Into the VRAINS!
by OmegaLordtheFirst
Summary: After S3: Playmaker. The hero of VRAINS. That is who Yusaku Fujiki has been all his life, disregarding the real world in favor of a virtual one. But when the real world is under threat from many forces, can Yusaku be a hero outside of VRAINS as well? Will his teenage life blow up in smokes? Or will Yusaku overcome all hurdles that disturb his peace? Let's go, Into the VRAINS!
1. The Start of a Bad Day

DISCLAIMER:** I do not own Yugioh or anything else in this story save for probably a few own made characters. Everything else is owned by their respective owners(Konami, Kazuki Takahashi etc.)**

**SPOILER ALERT for VRAINS ending!**

**Author's Note: I did not know of the concept of Yugioh till very recently. I have watched bits of all the seasons, most for VRAINS, 5Ds, GX and Duel Monsters. I never got into ZEXAL though I'm thinking of starting it,and Arc-V is a so-so for me, I know the basics and general plot but not in depth like who fights who or who the minor characters are.**

* * *

Chapter 1

The Start of a Bad Day

Fujiki Yusaku was not having a good day. The hero of LINK VRAINS had spent five hours of the past night in LINK VRAINS patrolling the server. Disturbances had recently been on the rise and he was trying to track down the lowlife trying to disrupt the peace that had reigned since Ai's war declaration against humanity.

But in Yusaku's thinking, if he could sacrifice 5 hours of sleep so that he could sleep soundly for the other 2 or 3 hours then it was well worth the cost. He was shaken from his line of thoughts by a familiar voice, "**Yusaku, class is already over..**"

Ai's voice shook him out of his line of thoughts, and he blinked a few times to clear the grogginess in his mind, and saw that his class was already empty. Everyone must have already moved off to their own after school club activities. Takeru would have woken him up from his nap, but he was taking a day off from school today, saying he had to meet someone. Grudgingly he packed up his books and got up to head off to the Duel Club.

It was a short walk to get to the Duel Club. It wasn't very well known in the school since Den City High School was a sort of prep school. Most of the students were more focused and joined other clubs that would or could in some way help out their future careers, though that didn't stop them from following dueling, and as result Playmaker. He forced the door open and swiftly closed it behind him. Only then did he notice that all the eyes in the club room were focused on him.

After a long tense moment of awkward silence, the club president, Hosoda, said, "Ah.. Fujiki-kun, you arrived at just the right moment. We were just going to discuss the participants for the upcoming Inter High School Dueling Championship. Why don't you take a seat?"

'Dueling Championship? Better not get involved with this.' Yusaku thought as he took his usual spot at the back. He closed his eyes and tried to tune out the chatter in the room, desperately trying to get some rest.

* * *

Hosoda was about to explain the format for the Dueling Championship when something struck him at that time.

"Before we get to the format for the Championship, shouldn't we at least decide upon who should be participating in the Championship?"

The Dueling Club members looked thoughtful and everyone agreed to decide who would participate. Well, almost everyone, no one noticed that Fujiki Yusaku was dozing off into the world of dreams, ignoring all the activities going on in the Duel Club.

After a bit of debating and schedule discussion, it was found out that some members had prior engagements set in stone during the time of the tournament and so the final five that were left were Naoki Shima, Club President Hosoda, Zaizen Aoi, Homura Takeru and lastly.. Fujiki Yusaku. The registration form was passed around and filled by the respective participants, and only then did it come to the attention of Hosoda that while they had called Homura and convinced him to join, they hadn't _asked_ Fujiki whether he wanted to join or not.

He swiveled his head and turned his gaze throughout the room.. and he saw him instantly, thanks to his outrageous blue-pink hair, sleeping peacefully. He sighed and said, "Can someone please wake Fujiki-kun?"

Of course, out of the majority of the sensible members in the Duel Club, the one who chose to wake up Yusaku was Naoki Shima, his self proclaimed best friend. He grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him awake, which led to Yusaku pushing him away and while Naoki stumbled to retain his balance, Yusaku's heaves of breaths went unnoticed to everyone.

Yusaku looked around and grimaced as he remembered where he was, but quickly covered it up. He swiveled his head and located Club President Hosoda, staring anxiously at him. When he raised his eyebrows in a questioning manner, Hosoda quickly spoke up, "Well you see Fujiki-kun.. to participate in the Inter High Dueling Championship, we need 5 members and unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances, some of our members are unable to attend, so we were hoping that you would-"

That was as far as he got before Yusaku cut him off by holding up his right hand, "There are three reasons why I must reject your offer: One, I am an average duelist at best, you should take someone better than me. Two, I don't even have a proper deck to play with, my current deck is just a mismatch of cards. And three, I am not interested in this Championship." He said while holding up three fingers.

As expected Naoki was the one to react most vocally among the rest of the members, "Hey! Come on, Fujiki don't be such a stick in the mud. We're asking you to join, it should be an honor that you are allowed to even compete at such a high level tournament. You don't have to worry about your shoddy skills, I'll teach you the skills that the great Playmaker passed onto me!" He shouted loudly, waving his hands as if they proved his _supposedly real_ dueling prowess. Hearing this, Yusaku and Aoi let out a light sigh of frustration, which luckily went unnoticed by the rest of the club.

Hosoda intruded in at this point, to actually control the flame instead of flaming it further. "Maybe we can fix that problem," He said, seeing that Yusaku was interested, "If you weren't forced to duel, would you at least be willing to consider our request?"

Tanaka, another duelist who had been silent till now, stood up in shock at the club president's words, "But president, how will that work?! If he won't duel then aren't we already handicapped before the championship even begins?"

Hosoda knew he had a point, but they needed five members to even stand in the playing field with their competitors. Since Tanaka and Sato were unable to join, so Yusaku was their only choice, no matter how many conditions came with him.

"Well?" Hosoda turned back towards Yusaku, prompting him to reply with a curt nod, after which he got up to leave. Nobody tried to stop him as he shut the door behind him.

* * *

It was about 4 in the evening when Yusaku reached Kusanagi Koichi's hotdog stand. His younger brother, Kusanagi Jin, was assisting him with maintaining the tables since he still hadn't reached the level of expertise which would qualify him to act as a substitute cook in place of his older brother. Jin saw him and gave a light wave, which he returned with one of his own. It always gave him a sense of relief that the younger Kusanagi was starting to come out of his shell. Maybe one day he could come out and fully integrate with society like Takeru had.

"**Will you be going to VRAINS now that you're free from school, Yusaku?**" asked his best, and only, partner Ai. His tone was excited, and he had the right to be. They had recently been going into the furthest parts of LINK VRAINS and had discovered many new Cyberse monsters hidden in the Data Storms. Yusaku would be lying if he said that he wasn't as excited as Ai, but he still wouldn't let it show. Though for now there were other problems to deal with.

"No. Right now I'm going to ask Kusanagi-san if I should join this Dueling Championship.. he might be able to help me make up my mind." He replied.

Ai's eyes widened in astonishment, "**EHH! I thought you would have already thought about declining their offer. What's happening? Is the great Playmaker finally going soft or something?**" The AI with free will teased.

Yusaku rolled his eyes, "Shut up." And opened the door to the back of the truck, entering into the well known area that had served as Playmaker's base of operations for more than a year.

"Oh.. Yusaku! You're here earlier than usual, did something happen at school? Koichi asked with a lace of concern in his voice.

With a nod, Yusaku collapsed into the empty seat while throwing his bag to the side. After a moment's pause he spoke, "There's an Inter High Dueling Championship that's being held and our school is participating in it."

"So?" Kusanagi asked but then seemed to get the point, "Wait a minute, are you going to join?" He asked in shock.

"I've been asked to," Yusaku clarified for him.

After a momentary lapse, he started shifting his hands again lest he burn the hotdogs he was cooking, "I think you should go."

"**I told him the same thing of course!" **Ai boasted out loud.

"No you didn't," Yusaku coldly corrected him, leading to Ai's pride shattering into pieces. "Why?" He asked, turning back to Kusanagi.

Kusanagi finished off the hotdogs he was cooking and turned off the stove before answering, "Yusaku, you have dedicated your entire life to fight Hanoi and then Lightning and the others. You need to look beyond that now. Why don't you at least join the team? No one will fault you if you don't win, especially with that bad deck you have for show."

Yusaku thought about it for a moment before finally giving off a sigh of resignation, "Fine, I'll tell them tomorrow."

"No need to, I'll tell them today." A voice interrupted from the side putting Yusaku on guard until he recognized the speaker, allowing him to sink back into the chair.

Zaizen Aoi was standing in front of the stand, fishing out money from her purse which she handed over to Kusanagi along with her order of one hotdog.

"Thank you," Yusaku replied with a grateful tone, and he truly was. She had been helping him on a daily basis, by taking notes for him when he slept in class(not that he needed them, but he appreciated the effort nonetheless), or lying about his prolonged absences from the Duel Club and the school when he was searching for Ai for months, and he hadn't gotten to thank her even once during the time, so now seemed like a good moment to.

"**Hey, Yusaku, you can thank her in an even better way, don't you remember?**" Ai piped out from his duel disk, prompting a memory to spark up in the boy's brain.

He ruffled around his bag for something, finding which he took it out to reveal a bunch of... Duel Monsters cards. He handed them over to Aoi, as she flipped the cards and her eyes widened in astonishment. "These are..." She started, but changed her words, "How did you get _these_ cards Pla- Fujiki-kun?"

"**We have been messing around in the Data Storms for the past week and we found a lot of Marincess, Salamangreat and even cards for our own deck. Since we couldn't use those cards as well as you do, Yusaku decided to give them to you and Soulburner.**" Ai replied in a proud tone.

Aoi bowed her head low, "Thank you! I don't know how to-" She was cut off before she could convey her thanks as Yusaku interrupted her by interjecting, "Don't thank me. Those cards belonged to Aqua, she would want you to have them."

She lifted her head up and looked like she wanted to say something, but then apparently decided against it as she kept herself silent. Then, a second later she spoke, "Accepting these cards just made me remember something, what are you going to do about your deck?"

"You're going to have to be more specific." He replied in a neutral tone, not understanding where she was going with this.

She looked embarrassed and looked away for a moment, she looked up again and spoke, "I meant the deck that you would use at the tournament."

This confused Yusaku. What was wrong with his dummy deck? Was it too powerful, and might give away his identity as Playmaker? No. He had specifically put in cards with no synergy with each other. Not even a grade schooler would lose to this deck, probably.

"What's wrong with my deck?" He asked, his puzzled eyebrows rising as he questioned back.

"You can't seriously be asking that?! You're PLAYMAKER! The Hero of VRAINS! You can't be using that deck in real life.. it-it's disrespectful to another duelist if you go easy on them when you could have won otherwise." Said Aoi, stuttering a bit at being so upfront with him.

Ai apparently decided he also wanted to add to his growing list of problems and continued, "**You know, she has a point Yusaku-chan, you can improve your deck as you want, it's not like Playmaker is a fugitive now. It doesn't really matter if someone figures out your identity in real life.**"

Yusaku sighed and rubbed his hair with his left hand, partly in frustration and partly in annoyance, and then spoke, "Fine, I'll think about it."

Aoi and Ai's faces lit up with small smiles. Even Kusanagi gave a light smile, though it went unnoticed by the people present there. Kusanagi quickly wrapped up a hot dog and gave it to Aoi, which she took and then left with a wave.

Kusanagi then wrapped up another hot dog and gave it to Yusaku, who proceeded to eat it in delight while relaxing in his chair. But just like always his paradise was bound to be interrupted in one way or another, and this time it was Ai.

"**Yusaku! You can't just sit here all day, we have to go get cards for your deck! If we don't hurry all the shops will close down!**" Ai voiced out in a scolding tone, making Yusaku sigh, but nonetheless he complied with his digital partner and got out of the comfortable chair while finishing up the remnants of his meal.

"I'll be back before it's too late, Kusanagi." The multi haired teen said while opening the door of the truck, and after seeing the cafe owner's nod he closed the door behind him. It was going to be 5 p.m. soon, so it would be best if he headed to the nearest (and cheapest) card shop as soon as possible. He didn't even have to say a word to Ai as the duel disk was already displaying a nearby card shop location.

"**Since I am so great, I already took the liberty of looking up the various card shops in the district, this one will be the best one for you to go to. Aren't I awesome?**" Said the Dark Ignis in a boastful tone, his eyes clearly conveying his condescending attitude.

Yusaku's only reply was to roll his eyes as he started following the map. While he was walking towards his destination he saw a bunch of advertisements on Go Onizuka, Blue Angel and many other charisma duelists whose flashy names and equally flamboyant appearances he couldn't be bothered to learn in this lifetime. Though the Blue Angel posters surprised him, since Aoi Zaizen hadn't donned her original virtual persona for a long time. It showed how dedicated her fan base was, even if half of them supported her for her physical appearance rather than her exceptional dueling skills. Taking a turn while pondering on the topic, he wound up exiting the commercial district and entering a residential one.

After some twists and turns he was passing near a park when he heard something. A gruff teenage boy speaking in an aggressive tone, "You little brats should just hand them over. They'll be in much better hands than your useless ones." Part of Yusaku just wanted to ignore the entire thing and just walk away, but picking on little kids was so low that even his lazy policy wouldn't allow him to run away from this. Taking a deep breath, he peeked around the corner into the playground.

Sure enough, a gang of five teenagers, high schoolers from their looks, had cornered a group of kids. A girl was standing in between the gang and the cowering kids defiantly, "You call yourself duelists but steal cards from children? How lower can you get?" She boldly declared. This seemed to anger the gang's apparent leader as he raised his hand and attempted to bring it down. The keyword being attempted as his hand was grabbed from behind by Yusaku's. The attacking boy was startled a bit, but quickly his face morphed with anger as he wrenched his hand free from the blue-pink haired duelist.

He spoke with a sneer and his tone was grating on his ears, "Well look at what we have here boys, a guy who wants to play at being a hero. Listen here smartass, if you know what's good for you then you'll walk out of here quietly, if not we'll then we'll have to do introductions, won't we?"

Yusaku shifted his focus from the leader to the herd of scared kids and seeing their fearful expressions was enough for him to make up his mind. "A duel should be played with honour, and you're disrespecting any duelist's name with your actions. You have no right to trample on another person to achieve your goals." He declared boldly, with an unwavering gaze so unsettling that the punk actually took a step back.

A moment later he seemed to get back his confidence as he stepped forward while taking out his Duel Monsters deck, "Since you are feeling so confident, why don't you back up your words in a duel? Or could it be that you were trying to make us leave by just saying shit?" He sneered at Yusaku.

Yusaku was getting irritated at this point, he had been hoping to finish this quickly without much effort and this guy was drawing it out unnecessarily. But before he could reply, he chose to stop and think about his actions. His deck was, in a word, bad and didn't have any chance of holding up against even a mediocre duelist. So before he could accept the duel, he looked behind the teenage bully and eyed the pack of ten-eleven year olds, "Do any of you have a viable deck with which I can duel? I would use my own but unfortunately I'm still in the process of building it properly." He got a few shakes of yes and no in reply, so selecting a kid who had nodded in the affirmative, he stepped forward and kneeled in front of her while taking out his own deck, "How about we take care of each others' decks for some time? I'll return it to you after I'm done with the duel."

The kid who was still scared looked at Yusaku and nodded, while taking out her pack of cards. They quickly switched their decks and suddenly an echoing laughter was heard in the park.

"Oh this- this is rich! You seriously expect to- to beat me with a deck made by a kid you've never met before in your life?" He gloated as if he had already won the duel, hands clutching his stomach in mock amusement.

Yusaku glared at him, "Why don't we start the duel? It's better than hearing your grating voice all day." Some of the kids, and surprisingly the goons also, snickered at the insult, while the leader's face turned red with rage(not literally).

"Fine! Let's get on with it! I'll show you how much better I, Sakamoto Hyuga, am than a rat like you!" He spat out venomously as his face contorted with rage, while activating his duel disk. They both set their decks as they were shuffled by the disk.

"Duel!" And with both players words the duel was underway as both drew their starting hand of five cards.

**Fujiki Yusaku vs. Sakamoto Hyuga**

**Yusaku: 4000**

**Hyuga: 4000**

"Why don't you take the first turn? At least then you won't complain about having a disadvantage when you lose." Hyuga taunted, as he eyed his hand. Yusaku only nodded in response and tried to think of the various combos to end this duel. The deck was Trickstar based, probably made due to an admiration for Blue Angel's original deck. He could already figure out some combos looking at the cards in his hands, although he had no idea of the level of his opponent so some amount of caution had to be exercised. Candina, Lycoris, Reincarnation...! He immediately connected the circuit which could lead him to victory, and this was all thanks to his opponent handing him the first turn.

Yusaku picked up a card in his hand and pressed it down on the holographic field, "I summon Trickstar Candina, and with its effect I am able to add Trickstar Lycoris to my hand." He declared while his duel disk slid out the desired card for him to add to his hand.

**Trickstar Candina Fairy/Effect LVL 4 ATK 1800/DEF 400 LIGHT**

"Then I'll activate the Field Spell **Trickstar Light Stage**, which lets me add another copy of Trickstar Lycoris to my hand. Then I'll reveal all 3 copies of Lycoris in my hand and return Candina to my hand. This allows me to Special Summon all 3 Trickstar Lycoris from my hand." Yusaku continued his turn by activating Light Stage which covered their surroundings with spotlights and stage equipment.

**3x Trickstar Lycoris Fairy/Effect LVL 3 ATK 1600/ DEF 120 LIGHT **

"I'll set a card and end my turn." Yusaku declared, ending his short turn as his opponent starting laughing again.

Hyuga was clutching his stomach in uncontrolled chuckles as he was bent over his knees, " Ahahahahaha! That's it? You have 3 monsters with 1600 attack which you sacrificed one with 1800 attack to get on the field. Either you are a bad duelist, or you are underestimating me. Let me show you my power, I draw!" He shouted as he drew a card from his deck. Immediately as if a force had shoved him backwards, he was thrown to the ground. "What?! How did I take damage all of a sudden?!"

"Lycoris' effect deals you 200 points of damage for every card that is added to your hand, furthermore if a Trickstar monster deals you damage, then Light Stage will deal you another 200 points of damage. In short you take 1200 damage for each card added your hand." Yusaku explained as Hyuga ground his teeth in frustration.

**Hyuga: 4000-1200➡2800**

Hyuga's pupils dilated in rage as he hurriedly got off the ground and glared at Yusaku in anger, "So? Don't think your pathetic monsters will save you. I only need one turn to end you. By the end of my turn you'll be on your knees begging me for mercy!" He managed to shout out, the anger in his voice obvious to everyone present there witnessing the duel.

"Are you sure about that?" Yusaku asked, with a slight smirk present on his face. "I activate my trap, Trickstar Reincarnation! This card will banish your entire hand, and following that you will draw cards equal to number of cards banished." He declared with a dramatic wave of his hand.

Hyuga's face blanched in shock, "No way.. that would mean- I would take-" He was stuttering now as the reality of his situation dawned on him.

"You take 4200 damage!" Yusaku finished for him, as all 3 Trickstars fired their blasts at him sending him flying back.

**Hyuga: 2800-4200➡0**

The other teenagers watched in shock at the outcome of the duel. Hyuga's winning streak had been broken by a random kid from nowhere using a child's deck he had just got. Just how strong was this guy?

"That was Kana's deck right?!" One of the younger kids asked in disbelief. They were all jumping in joy at their saviour's victory.

"Yeah.. that is my deck.. but he used it as if he had that deck for his whole life.. I didn't know you could use a deck that efficiently." The girl called Kana, whom Yusaku had exchanged his deck with, said in awe.

By this time Hyuga had managed to get up from the floor, and the humiliation of his defeat came back to him full force, "How..how did I lose to a no name like you? Who the hell do you think you are to come in and interfere in my business?!" He shouted out in a violent tone.

Yusaku looked back in that same cold expression he always had, "My name is Fujiki Yusaku, and there are three reasons you lost. One, you underestimated the deck of a younger opponent thinking it was trash: two, you were overconfident in your abilities as a duelist; and third, I was a better duelist than you." He explained, while holding up three of his fingers.

"You-you think you can just stop my plans and get away with it?! I'll be back and give you what you deserve." Hyuga screamed back, as he started walking away. Yusaku just snorted in response as the rest of his cronies started running after their leader.

"**Don't you think he'll cause trouble later?**" Ai spoke up slowly from his duel disk.

"No," was the simple reply Yusaku deigned him, and he turned around only to see the little pack of kids all around him watching him intently. Yusaku almost cursed himself for forgetting that they were not alone. He would have to correct the situation somehow-

"That was so amazing!"

"Can you please teach me to duel like that?"

"Which deck do you use?"

"Will you play with us?"

These were only some of the responses he got from the kids in a flurry. He tried to call them down, but that would be an impossible effort for anyone not their parents. He raised his hands and immediately they all allowed silence to descend. "I think you all should go home quickly, they might come back to steal your decks." Yusaku explained cautiously. Their faces fell with sad frowns and pouts but they didn't say much in response.

"Why are you worried? Can't you just beat them down again?" One kid piped up excitedly.

Yusaku was about to answer that when suddenly someone else replied on his behalf, "He has stuff to do. He can't just stay here all day because you asked him to." A girl, with golden locks of hair and a look much sharper than her peers replied back. Yusaku remembered her as the one standing up to the punks before he came.

The boy who had asked the question looked thoroughly embarrassed now, "Yeah, yeah you're right, Yuna-san." He said, while bowing before Yusaku, "Thank you for helping us, Fujiki-senpai."

Yusaku held up a hand, "That's unnecessary, you all should go home quickly." Yusaku spoke up, "Make sure to not go out alone, and try to get your parents to go with you." He emphasized the importance of safety to the little children. They nodded and had turned around to leave when the little girl from before came up to him, Yuna, his brain provided helpfully. She had dragged the girl with whom he had changed decks with to the front with her. Immediately Yusaku realized what her aim was. He took out the girl's deck and handed it back to her. She accepted it back shakily, and returned his own deck back to him.

After this exchange all the kids turned around and left the park, save for one. The girl called Yuna stared back at him in a way that unsettled even Yusaku, who thought himself to be pretty unshakeable. His focus returned to her as she started to speak.

"I know you are Playmaker."

Yusaku's blood ran cold.

* * *

**Author's Note: So? Did you like it? I tried to keep Yusaku in character, but it's difficult to do so when the main character is not very social. Though from what I gather, Yusaku isn't a bad person, he doesn't want to put effort in anything that isn't world ending or related to the Knights of Hanoi. Now that all that is gone, he needs to put his focus on something.**

**I will go ahead and address some doubts you might have:**

**1\. Cyberse cards: I head canon that due to Cyberse world being destroyed to the point of near extinction, Yusaku doesn't have multiple copies of the same cards. In the canon, we have only seen multiple copies of very few cards. **

**2\. Data Storm: These have Cyberse cards in them waiting to be used with Storm Access. But Marincess and Salamangreat are both Cyberse monsters, so it would stand to reason that they could also be found in the Data Storms. Yusaku won't keep Marincess and Salamangreat cards with himself if someone else could use them better and deserves it more than he does. Thus, he'll give new Salamangreat and Marincess cards to Takeru and Aoi, to give me flexibility in writing new cards for all 3 of them(Yusaku, Takeru and Aoi).**

**3\. Duel: The duel was super short because of 3 reasons(Lucky number 3):**

**A) Hyuga was much more inferior compared to Yusaku(I mean look at the guy, he is undefeated throughout the series)**

**B) I had to give Yusaku a common enough deck that kids could have, so I chose Trickstars(the other choice was Gouki), since his dummy deck is basically worse than garbage and probably couldn't beat Naoki in a fight.**

**C) I don't play Trickstars so I had to research 3-4 hours to come up with such a simple combo(I did mention I am new to Yugioh right)**

**4\. Yuna: On the topic of a little girl knowing his secret it's going to be explained next chapter, and don't worry it won't be something super clichéd that little girl suddenly hacked all of Yusaku's secrets away.**

**5\. Pairing: It will be my Female OC. And no need to panic, OCs in my fic won't suddenly become stronger than the main cast(Yusaku, Ai, Revolver etc etc.)**

**6\. Future Duels: I cannot make scripts for duels, so I would appreciate it if someone helped me in making duels. Just PM me or leave a review if you are interested, and I will get back to you. It would also be appreciated if people could leave suggestions for archetypes not used by important characters (Amazoness, Thunderdragons etc.) so that I could give them to my OCs.**

**7\. Update: I'm a busy man, so I have no idea. It might be a month or two months. You can follow to receive updates on this project.**

**Please Favorite, Rate and Review so I can know of my own shortcomings.**

**Regards.**

**OmegaLordtheFirst**

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**Edit: Poll is up on my profile now. Vote on it for Takeru's real life deck, I have put in Red Eyes just in case you guys don't like my other choices, but I don't want major characters sharing same archetypes(Joey, Atticus and now Soulburner).**


	2. The Legend

**Author's Note: So, yeah.. it's been a while, huh?**

**I've actually received some questions about topics which were unclear in the last chapter. So I'll just go ahead and answer them all.**

**Q1. What about the time for which Yusaku was gone? How did Ai come back?**

**This has been decided, and I intentionally didn't mention anything. Don't worry everything will be explained later on. I won't spoil it right now.**

**Q2. Takeru's deck?**

**Takeru's real life deck was voted by you, the people. And you all chose his old Fire Warriors deck which he used once in the anime. So I'll have to think of new cards for that and make it viable to play. I'll try and see if Salamangreats get some time in my story if they duel inside VRAINS.**

**Q3. Yusaku's real life deck?**

**Yusaku's is going to be a mix of cards with one rare ace monster. Sort of like Yugi's original. Don't worry the ace monster isn't Dark Magician(XD), it'll be a Link Monster and one that's already in the game.**

**Q4. How did Yusaku use Trickstars?**

**Trickstars are a deck used by Blue Angel in the anime. She isn't shown to be extremely special due to owning a unique deck. In the world of Yugioh, everyone has a different deck(barring a few cases: Joey, Atticus and Yugi, Arkana), and this has never really been explained properly. So I'll be making some decks which are common and available to a lot of people. I chose Trickstars because I needed a deck which could OTK and be easily explainable for a child to have. So I chose Trickstars since I felt a lot of children would mirror their decks to be similar to celebrities. The other choice was Goukis, but I found a Trickstar OTK combo first so I went with Trickstars. Hope that's cleared up, don't worry Yusaku will have a proper new real life deck which will be unique to him(probably).**

**Thanks to all the amazing people who favorited and/or followed me or/and my story.**

**In celebration of Yugioh SEVENS, here's one of my longer chapters. Enjoy!**

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Chapter 2

The Legend

"I know you are Playmaker."

Yusaku's blood ran cold. "**How the heck do you know?!**" Ai's outspoken voice sounded out of his duel disk, the confusion and panic in his voice was obvious to anyone who heard it. Yuna meanwhile smiled so deviously that it would be better fitting on the face of a master criminal rather than a little girl.

"I didn't," Yuna replied while grinning from ear to ear, "I saw your deck while you gave it to my friend, and a duelist like you keeping a bad deck like that could have only one reason: You want to hide your strength from everyone else. And I also saw you _talking_ to your duel disk, so I thought to risk it and ask you."

Yusaku shook his head, "That still isn't absolute proof of what you claim." He denied her statements coldly.

"Yes, but he is." She pointed a finger at the Dark Ignis, "I just took a risk to see whether I was right or not, and he gave me all the proof I need. You're the Ignis for which everyone went after Playmaker, right?"

"**Eh?! You're this smart?! Are you sure you're a middle schooler? And yes, I am the great Ai-sama." **Ai asked in shock, his yellow glowing eyes were widened in shock, ignoring Yusaku's glare which was redirected at him now.

Yuna giggled at his questions, "Yep! I'm just a smart middle schooler who watches too many streams of LINK VRAINS." She turned her head to look at Yusaku, whose expression was still a nervous one of uncertainty, "Oh! Don't worry I won't tell a single soul about who you are. I promise."

Yusaku's expression lightened as he released a breath he didn't know he had been holding, "Thank you, I would prefer it if my identity stayed close to me."

"Sure, but first I have a request. Duel me." She said with a straight face, any hints of her previous childlike expression gone like the wind. Yusaku's eyes widened with astonishment.

"**Huh? But you just said that you won't tell anyone of our identity." **Ai's confused voice came out of the disk. "**If we duel you here then there's a chance someone could see our monsters and recognize the Cyberses.**"

Yuna tilted her head to the side in confusion, "So, if we could have a duel that nobody else could see then it would be fine, right?" She asked.

"What will you do if we refuse?" Yusaku replied, his expressionless face not giving any hint of any emotion he might be feeling inside.

Yuna thought about it for a moment and then spoke, "Well nothing, but I really want to duel someone like you. The kids my age all lose too easily, and anyone older than me sees me as a joke and doesn't duel me. I want to know how I stand as a duelist."

Yusaku could see the conviction in her eyes as she spoke, and for a moment he saw past her age and could feel the duelist's soul that rested in her, yearning for a challenge. He smirked, "Fine, one duel. That's all I'll give you. Think of it as payment for you not telling my identity to anyone."

She jumped in joy, clapped her hands then grabbed his hand and started dragging him out of the park. Yusaku stumbled to keep up for a moment, but then accelerated his pace and allowed her to drag him outside the playground.

"**Hm? Isn't this in the same direction as the card shop we were going to earlier?**" Ai asked as he was maintaining their location on his map.

Before Yusaku could reply, Yuna started speaking, "EHH! You were going to that card shop? Why?" She excitedly asked, her eyes gleaming with childlike joy.

Yusaku looked around uncomfortably for a moment, he wasn't used to talking to new people so openly, and said, "We wanted to improve my current deck since I'm taking part in the Inter High Dueling Championship." Silence descended over them for a few moments, after which Yuna once again broke the silence.

"Then why are you walking so slowly, come on quickly, we have to get to the shop!" She energetically declared, while increasing her pace and dragging Yusaku ahead with even more vigour than before.

'This day just keeps getting worse..'

* * *

Even after all of Yusaku's efforts to keep up with the young girl, the _CLOSED_ sign stood unmoving on the door as if taunting their efforts. "**Oh well, looks like we'll have to come back tomorrow. Let's go-" **That was all Ai said before Yuna just straight up marched through the doors as if she owned the place.

"Well? Are you going to come in or not?" She turned around and asked when Yusaku hadn't moved from his spot. After a moment, Yusaku moved his legs and entered the shop. The darkness inside prevented him from seeing anything, but that changed as soon as the lights were switched on. The room was filled with nothing but Duel Monsters cards, disks, mats and guides. Wooden shelves and glass panels housed hundreds of cards inside them. There were so many cards here that Yusaku found himself entranced in the entire shop.

"Come on! You can admire the shop later, first we have to duel!" Yuna broke his focus, and he turned back to see her pouting while holding her duel disk.

"**But won't the owner get mad if we're trespassing on his shop?**" Ai asked, while trying to understand the situation.

"Nah, my grandfather owns the place, he won't be angry at me. Besides he's probably upstarts making some coffee or something." Yuna replied with a dismissive wave of the hand. "Now come on, there's a room to duel in the back." She continued as Yusaku followed her towards the back of the shop, and indeed there was. They emerged into a spacious empty room which, even though was a bit dusty, would suffice for their private duel. "Ready?" She asked and drew his focus back on the situation at hand.

Yusaku reached into his school jacket's inside and opened up the hidden compartment where he kept his true deck, his Cyberse. He shuffled up the deck and set it into the disk. "Ready." He stated.

"Duel!"

**Yusaku Fujiki Vs Yuna**

**Yusaku: 4000**

**Yuna: 4000**

"I'll take the first turn. I'll start by activating my Spell Card **Terraforming**, I can now add one Field Spell card to my hand. I'll be adding Aroma Garden to my hand. Then I'll activate my Continuous Spell Card **Aroma Gardening**, and summon Aromage Jasmine. With Aroma Gardening's effect I gain 1000 LP every time I summon an Aroma monster. Now I'll activate Jasmine's effect, since I gained LP I get to draw 1 card." Declared Yuna, as the room was covered with grass and flowers of many different colors started spouting out of the ground.

**Aromage Jasmine LVL 2 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 100/1900 LIGHT**

**Yuna:4000+1000➡5000**

"Aromage Jasmine's effect allows me normal summon another plant monster while my LP are higher than yours. I'll summon Aromage Rosemary." Yuna continued her turn by summoning another monster.

**Aromage Rosemary LVL 4 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 1800/700 WATER**

"Also, while my LP are higher than yours, I can Special Summon Aromage Laurel from my hand." Now there were three monsters in her field which made Yusaku slightly more alert as to what she was planning.

**Aromage Laurel LVL 1 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 800/0 WIND**

"Then I'll activate Laurel's effect, since my LP are higher than yours, I can treat one Plant type monster as a Tuner this turn. So, I'll treat Aromage Rosemary as a Tuner this turn." This statement shocked Ai.

"**Ehh?! Tuner! That means-**"

Yuna smirked a bit and shouted, "That's right! But first, appear, my circuit full of life!" She said as the Link Portal appeared above them. "The summoning conditions are 2 Plant monsters. I set Jasmine and Laurel in the Link Markers. Link Summon! Link 2 Aromaseraphy Lavender!"

**Aromaseraphy Lavender LINK-2 Plant/Link/Effect ATK 1600 LIGHT LINK MARKERS:⬇⬆**

"And now, my monster's effect activates! Since it was summoned, once per turn, I can bring back one Plant type monster from my graveyard. I choose Aromage Laurel to be revived! Now, my field is set!" She shouted suddenly, shocking the Ignis bearing duelist. "Level 4 Aromage Rosemary tunes Level 1 Aromage Laurel. Destroy the sadness in this world and fill it with life and beauty using your power, Synchro Summon! Level 5 Aromaseraphy Rosemary!" Her new Synchro monster emerged in a flash of light as the wind blew around it.

**Aromaseraphy Rosemary LVL 5 Plant/Synchro/Effect ATK/DEF 2000/900 LIGHT**

"So that's your ace? A Synchro monster?" Questioned Yusaku, while eyeing his own hand of cards.

"Maybe? Do you like it?" She gave a cheerful grin and then said, "When Aromaseraphy Rosemary is on the field while my LP are more than yours, every Plant Type monster on my field gains 500 attack and defence. I'll also activate Aroma Garden's effect to gain another 500 LP since an 'Aroma' monster is on the field. This is because Lavender is always treated as an 'Aroma' card, and it also increases my monster's attack and defence by 500."

**Yuna:5000+500➡5500**

**Aromaseraphy Rosemary 2000➡3000 / 900➡1900**

**Aromaseraphy Lavender 1600➡2600**

"**30****00 attack on the first turn! That's bad right Playmaker?**" Ai questioned, panic seeping into his digital voice. Yusaku didn't deign to reply and carefully watched the field as Yuna set one final card face down and ended the turn.

"It's my turn. I draw!" Yusaku placed the card into his left hand and quickly decided his turn. "When there are no monsters on my field I can Special Summon Linkslayer. Now, appear, the circuit that leads to the future!" He declared as the portal appeared in the air, " The summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters."

**Linkslayer LVL 5 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 2000/600 EARTH**

Yuna's eyes widened a little, "But you don't have 2 monsters on your field!" And it was true, there was only Linkslayer standing on his field, which could only lead to a Link 1 Monster.

"Micro Coder's effect allows it to be used a Link Material from my hand instead of the field. I'll set Micro Coder and Linkslayer in the Link Markers. Link Summon! Appear, Link-2 Code Talker Inverted!"

**Code Talker Inverted LINK-2 Cyberse/Link/Effect ATK 1300 LIGHT**

"As expected of Playmaker, you can use Link Summoning to its full potential." Yuna said in awe, and shook her head as if reassuring herself of something.

Yusaku held up his hand, "Micro Coder's Effect activates, since it was used as Link Material for a Code Talker monster from my hand, I can add one Cynet Spell or Trap to my hand. Moreover, Code Talker Inverted's effect Special Summons a Cyberse Monster from my hand. I'll Special Summon Dual Assembwurm. Then I'll activate Dual Assembwurm's effect, I can banish one card from my hand to banish one Monster on your field with lower attack than Dual Assembwurm. I'll banish Dotscaper to Special Summon it, and also banish your Aromaseraphy Lavender."

Yuna looked on in shock as one of her monsters was thrown into a hole from which she didn't come out of.

**Dual Assembwurm LVL 8 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 2800/1000 DARK**

**Dotscaper LVL 1 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 0/2100 LIGHT**

"Appear! The circuit that leads to the future! The summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters. I set Code Talker Inverted and Dual Assembwurm in the Link Markers. Link Summon! Appear! Link 2 Cyberse Wikkid!' Then I'll activate Cynet Mining to discard Sea Archiver and add Cyberse Converter to my hand. Appear again! The circuit that leads to the future! The summoning conditions are 1 Level 1 monster. I set Dotscaper in the Link Marker. Link Summon! Link 1 Linkuriboh!"

**Cyberse Wicckid LINK-2 Cyberse/Link/Effect ATK 800 DARK Link Markers:⬇↘**

**Linkuriboh LINK-1 Cyberse/Link/Effect ATK 300 DARK Link Markers:⬇**

"Aww! That's such a cute monster.. but you won't beat Rosemary with those attack points." Yuna said with confidence.

Yusaku held up a hand again as he started to summon another monster, "I'm not done! Since a monster was Special Summoned to a zone that Cyberse Wicckid points to, I can banish Dual Assembwurm and add Cyberse Synchron to my hand. Now I'll Normal Summon Cyberse Synchron and Special Summon Cyberse Converter."

Yuna's shock showed on her face, "A tuner! Are you-"

Yusaku cut her off, "I am! I tune Level 2 Cyberse Coverter with my Level 1 Cyberse Synchron. Synchro Summon! Level 3! Cyberse Integrator!"

**Cyberse Integrator LVL 3 Cyberse/Synchro/Effect ATK/DEF 1000/1000 DARK**

"Level 3? You won't beat me with a monster like that." Yuna commented back, arrogance seeping slightly into her voice.

"I'll show you the power of the Cyberse! Cyberse Integrator's effect activates! Since it was Synchro Summoned, I can Special Summon Cyberse Synchron from my graveyard." The tuner monster returned back to the field as the four monsters gazed at Aromaseraphy Rosemary.

"But what will you do with that? Unless.." Yuna's thoughts were cut as Yusaku spoke up again.

"Cyberse Synchron's effect activates! Once per turn, I can double the level of one level 4 or lower monster I control. I raise Cyberse Integrator's level to level 6. I tune Level 6 Cyberse Integrator with Level 1 Cyberse Synchron. Flash of lightning! The unknown power transforms into a soaring dragon! Synchro Summon! Appear, Level 7 Cyberse Quantum Dragon!" Yusaku shouted as lightning erupted from the sky and struck the ground, and the shining white Cyberse monster emerged as it roared at Rosemary. "Moreover, since Cyberse Integrator was sent to the graveyard, I get to draw a card." He said while drawing another card.

**Cyberse Quantum Dragon LVL 7 Cyberse/Synchro/Effect ATK/DEF 2500/2000 DARK**

"Amazing! You performed a double Synchro Summons in a single turn. But.. that monster still only has 2500 attack. You still can't beat my Rosemary." Yuna spoke in part awe and part relief.

Yusaku's gaze hardened as he shouted, "Battle! Cyberse Quantum Dragon attacks Aromaseraphy Rosemary!"

Shock showed in her eyes as she incredulously asked, "You're attacking a monster with higher attack?!"

"Is that so?" Questioned Yusaku, "Cyberse Quantum Dragon's effect activates! Your battling monster returns to your hand! Driveback Shot!"

"What?!' Yuna exclaimed in shock as her powerful monster returned back to the Extra Deck.

"And when Driveback Shot succeeds, Quantum Dragon can attack again. Go! Quantum Encryption!" He shouted as Cyberse Wicckid, Linkuriboh and Cyberse Quantum Dragon attacked her directly.

"I activate my trap! Draining Shield! This will negate your monster's attack and I will then gain LP equal to its attack points!" She triumphantly shouted as a mystical shield surrounded Yuna, protecting her from any damage.

**Yuna:5500+2500-1100➡6900**

The little girl was pushed backwards as her body glowed a bit, symbolising that she had taken damage. She got back on her feet and said, "You are a skilled Duelist no doubt. But that trap was an extremely simple tactic, don't tell me this is all you have." She grinned, feeling the intensity of the duel.

Yusaku saw the rise in life points unflinchingly, and set one final card to end his turn.

Yuna, finally ready to maker her move, grinned, "My turn! I draw! I'll activate my spell **Golden Winds**, which allows me to Special Summon a Plant type Link Monster, with its effects negated from my graveyard or banished zone and then draw cards equal to its Link Rating. I'll revive Aromaseraphy Lavender, and then draw 2 cards." Yuna replenished her hand by drawing 2 more cards from her deck. "Then I'll Normal Summon Aromage Marigold, and due to its effect I can Special Summon a Plant type monster from my graveyard. Revive, Aromaseraphy Rosemary!"

**Aromage Marigold LVL 3 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 1200**➡**1700****/600 EARTH**

"Due to Aroma Gardening's effect my life points increase by 1000 points. And now, I'll activate Aroma Garden's effect to gain 500 life points, and now, due to Rosemary's effect I can negate one monster's effects, I'll negate your Cyberse Quantum Dragon's effect." Yuna declared happily as if enjoying the duel, as Rosemary released a fog cloud, which dazed Quantum Dragon.

**Yuna:6900+****1500**➡**8400**

**Aromaseraphy Rosemary 2500**➡**3000**

**Aromaseraphy Lavender 1500**➡**2500**

**Aromage Marigold 1700**➡**2200**

"**You got back all your monsters?! And those many attack points, on top of that Quantum Dragon's effect is negated. This is seriously bad Playmaker, she can do us a lot of damage with those monsters.**" Ai shouted in a panicky voice, though Yusaku didn't acknowledge his words, instead choosing to stare at the field in intense concentration.

"Lets battle! Rosemary attacks your Quantum Dragon! Natural Power!" Aromaseraphy Rosemary jumped up and pointed her staff at Quantum Dragom, who was dazed from her previous effect. Just as she was about to fire off, Yusaku interrupted it.

"I activate Linkuriboh's effect! By tributing it, your attacking monster's attack becomes 0." Yuna watched in shock as Linkuriboh dissipated into data as Rosemary landed back before firing her attack.

She gritted her teeth, and said, "But I still have monsters to attack with, Marigold attacks Cyberse Wicckid!" Marigold fired a burst of energy from her staff, but it was stopped as Cyberse Wicckid put up a barrier surrounding itself."

"When Cyberse Wicckid is Link Summoned, it cannot be destroyed by battle or card effects." Countered Yusaku, matching her attack move for move.

Yuna triumphantly shouted, "But you still take damage!" And true to her move, Yusaku's body glowed blue which was symbolic with damage being received.

Yuna looked at the field carefully and made her next choice, "Aromaseraphy Lavender also attacks Cyberse Wicckid!" She declared as it resulted in the same manner as her previous attack.

**Yusaku: 4000-1700-1400**➡**900**

"I set one final card and end my turn." Yuna declared as one face down card materialized on her field, making Yusaku cautious.

Ai sighed in relief, "**We survived that one Playmaker, but if we don't turn this around, it'll be over in one or two turns.**"

"I know, so pray that we can turn this around." Was all that Yusaku said, as he put his hand on top of his deck. "I draw!" Sparks flashed around his deck as he performed his aforementioned action. 'This card will do'

"Appear the circuit that leads to the future, the summoning conditions are 2+ Effect Monsters, I set Cyberse Wicckid and Cyberse Quantum Dragon in the Link Markers. Link Summon! LINK-3 Transcode Talker! And now, I activate my trap, **Cynet Cascade**! This will Special Summon back one of the link materials used to Link Summon." Yusaku started off his combo with his Earth attribute Code Talker monster and also brought back Quatum Dragon while he was at it.

**Transcode Talker LINK-3 Cyberse/Link/Effect ATK 2300 EARTH**

"You got back that powerful monster's effect back again! Even though I thought I had dealt with it.." Yuna murmured, more to herself than anyone else.

"I'm not done! Transcode Talker's effect activates! I can Special Summon back one Code Talker monster from my graveyard to a zone this card points to. Revive, Code Talker Inverted! Now, I'll Normal Summon Clock Wyvern and activate its effect to half its attack points and Special Summon a Clock Token."

**Clock Wyvern LVL 4 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 1800**➡**900/1000 WIND**

**Clock Token LVL 1 Cyberse ATK/DEF 0/0 WIND**

Yuna got a bit apprehensive, seeing so many monsters together on the field provided many options for a Link Summon, which she knew was Playmaker's specialty. Again, Yusaku raised his hand, "Appear again, the circuit that leads to the future! The summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters. I set a Clock Token and Quantum Dragon in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-2 Clock Spartoi! When this card is Link Summoned, I get to add Cynet Fusion to my hand." He raised the appropriate card and showed it to Yuna, who felt a chill run down her spine for some unknown reason.

**Clock Spartoi LINK-2 Cyberse/Link/Effect ATK 800 DARK**

"You used your Synchro Monster as a link material again!?" Asked Yuna, perplexed at his actions.

"I'll show you why. I activate my Spell card **Cynet Fusion**, which allows me to Fusion Summon one monster from my extra deck using monsters in my hand or field as material. I'll fuse Clock Wyvern and Clock Spartoi. Fusion Summon! Come, Diplexer Chimera!"

**Diplexer Chimera LVL 5 Cyberse/Fusion/Effect ATK/DEF 2000/800 LIGHT**

"Another weak monster? Are you planning the same tactic as you did with your Synchro Summons?" Yuna questioned his actions.

Yusaku smirked, "You'll see. I activate Diplexer Chimera to Tribute it, and now you cannot activate Spell or Trap cards during the Battle Phase of this turn, moreover when Diplexer Chimera is sent to the graveyard, I get to add **Cynet Fusion **and one Cyberse Monster back to my hand. I'll add Clock Wyvern. And then activate **Cynet Fusion** for the second time this turn. I'll fuse Clock Wyvern and Code Talker Inverted. The strong ones gather before its grand wings! Become a new legend! Fusion Summon! Appear, Cyberse Clock Dragon!"

**Cyberse Clock Dragon LVL 7 Cyberse/Fusion/Effect ATK/DEF 2500/2000 DARK**

"So that's your ace? But even that will take out only a minor amount of life points from mine, no matter how strong it is." Yuna shrugged confidently, dismissing his actions easily, even though Diplexer Chimera's effect had rendered her **Negate Attack **useless.

"I'm afraid I'm still not done. Appear! The circuit that leads to the future! The summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters. I set Cyberse Clock Dragon and Transcode Talker in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-2 Clock Lizard.

**Clock Spartoi LINK-2 Cyberse/Link/Effect ATK 1200 DARK**

Yuna had been surprised by his actions for the entirety of the duel, but this was the final straw. "Ok. What is up with you? You use stronger monsters and instead Link Summon them away to form weaker monsters. Isn't it usually the opposite which should be done?" She asked, unable to keep her curiosity inside herself.

"Did I say I'm finished?" Countered Yusaku.

"Uhmm.. not really.. but you only have one monster on your field, and nothing in your hand and no Spells or Traps to activate. How could you possibly do anything?" She questioned, with a confused look.

"This! I tribute Clock Lizard by its own effect!" Making Yuna's eyes widen in surprise as her opponent had emptied his field of all cards. "This allows me to return a Fusion Monster in my graveyard to my Extra Deck. Then I can Fusion Summon it again by banishing monsters from my graveyard. I banish Clock Wyvern, Cyberse Wicckid, Linkuriboh, Code Talker Inverted, Transcode Talker, Clock Spartoi and Clock Lizard to Fusion Summon! Appear again! Cyberse Clock Dragon!"

Yuna stood there unimpressed, "So what? You already brought it out once, what will summoning it again accomplish? There's no way for you to win now." She questioned and stated overconfidently.

"Are you sure about that?" Yusaku questioned back, making Yuna stop. "First, Clock Lizard's effect will activate, since it was banished, all Special Summoned monsters to your field lose 400 attack for each Cyberse Monster in my graveyard. There are 5, so your monsters will lose 2000 attack. Then I'll activate Cyberse Clock Dragon's effect! When it's summoned, I can send cards from the top of my deck to the graveyard, equal to the total Link Rating of all the Link Monsters used to Fusion Summon it. The total Link Rating of all the monsters used for its summon is 12. Therefore, I send 12 cards to the graveyard. And for every card sent to the graveyard this way, Cyberse Clock Dragon gains 1000 attack points! Cyberse Clock Up!"

**Aromaseraphy Rosemary 3000**➡**1000**

**Aromaseraphy Lavender 2500**➡**500**

**Cyberse Clock Dragon 2500**➡**14500**

Yuna's eyes seemed to nearly pop out of their sockets, "14500 attack points!? I've ne..never seen attack points go that high before.." She spoke with a tinge of fear.

"Battle! Cyberse Clock Dragon Attacks Aromaseraphy Rosemary! Pulse Pressure!" Shouted the pink haired duelist as bundles of energy coalesced in front of the Dragon's mouth and fired off in Yuna's direction. It hit her monster directly and as a result threw her backwards. She went sprawling onto the floor, and shakily got up.

**Yuna: 8400-13500➡0**

**Winner: Yusaku**

"I..I lost.." She said as if in disbelief, "So this is a true duelist's strength.. thank you, Playmaker for showing me my weakness."

"You are a spectacular duelist for your age. In a few years, you'll be ready to take on any duelist who challenges you." Yusaku explained in a soft tone.

Ai decided to say his own part as well, "**Yeah, Yuna-chan, this guy doesn't know how to take it easy, so don't count it as loss. Yusaku's got years on you, so he outranks you in experience as well.**"

"Yeah... But I really wanted to win against a person I admire so much." She spoke in a dejected tone and hung her head low.

"What happened here? Yuna! Are you ok?" An aged voice was heard from behind them that made Yusaku freeze. "You! Young ruffian! Just what have you been doing here after hours? Leave or I'll call the cops right now."

Yusaku tried to explain his presence, but Yuna jumped ahead of him and held out both hands as if guarding him from an unknown danger. "Grandpa! I brought him here for a duel! He was the one who saved us from some bullies at the park!

Seeing her vehemently opposing the decision of the man who was her grandfather made the elder man calm down. He turned towards the teenager and bowed, "In that case, I would like to thank you. For protecting my granddaughter, you have my gratitude." His tone had immediately changed from an angered one to that of politeness.

Yusaku, uncomfortable as always in any social interaction, darted his eyes around in confusion. A gentle tug was felt at his right hand. He looked down to see Yuna standing there, holding two of his fingers and looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry, I should have asked Grandpa for permission before bringing you here."

Seeing a person look so sad and depressed reminded him of himself. That look he always had on his face which made people stop and ask him if something was wrong earlier, and now only served to discourage people from getting closer to him. He forced himself to say something, "It's ok.. no harm was done. You only wanted a duel, nothing else."

He seemed to have said the right thing as she cheered up and gave an earsplitting grin. "Really? Then let's go get you the cards you need!" And the excitement was back..

"What's this about getting cards?" Yuna's still unnamed grandfather said.

Yuna perked up, "Oh yeah! He said he wanted to buy cards to upgrade his real- I mean deck. Can you help him out, grandpa?"

He stroked his grey beard thoughtfully, as if lost in thought and then said, "Well.. the shop is closed-" Yusaku was about to ask him to reconsider his choice, since he really wanted to get this done with as soon as possible. But the old man didn't stop speaking, "-but since you helped out my dear Yuna, I'll make an exception just this once."

Sighing in relief, Yusaku bowed to express his gratitude, "Thank You."

The elderly man chuckled and turned back and started walking back towards the main area of the shop, where the cards were kept as he said, "Thank me after you get the cards you want- what's your name?"

"Fujiki, Fujiki Yusaku. Call me whatever you want." He said simply and started following him, disentangling his hand from Yuna's, who pouted and ran to keep up with the two people.

"Very well then, Fujiki-kun, I'm Suzuki Himura." Himura replied, and while reaching the counter continued, "So, what sort of deck are you looking for? Fusion? Synchro? Or something else?"

Yusaku looked around, looking uncertain, "What sort of choices do you have?"

Himura have a light hearted laugh as he moved behind the counter and brought up many sorts of boxes. Structure decks, packs and separate cards, there were even some deck cases there. Yusaku's hand lingered over his choices, he already had a structure deck since his days as Unknown, but should he buy support for that basic Structure Deck which he somehow made do with, before acquiring his Cyberses.

It was as if the old man had read his mind, as he asked, "By the way, you beat Yuna-chan earlier, right?" After an affirmative nod, he continued, "Then you must have a good deck already. So are you looking to upgrade it with new cards?"

There wasn't any hesitation as Yusaku gave a firm 'No' in reply. "I want either a new deck which will work better than this, or if there isn't one available, I'll make one myself." He said while putting his old deck which had helped start off his fight against the Hanoi. It had worked well when the opponent was an untrained grunt, but it gave him chills at the thought of going against Revolver, or even Spectre, using this deck.

Himura lifted the deck and shifted the cards as he inspected it. "This is a structure deck, isn't it? This one went out of sale a long time ago since most people couldn't figure out how to attain proper synergy between the cards." Seeing one nod, he said, "Well, we should have some other decks available which will work better than these. Look at these." He took out a few boxes which were labelled as structure decks, and layed them down on the table for Yusaku to see.

Yusaku's fingers danced across the different boxes available, as he pondered over the choices. Of course some of them were decks he was familiar with. Each one had a different strategy to win, and none of them suited his style. Effect damage, deck destruction, lockdown, one turn kills, hand traps, recycling. He didn't prefer any one strategy, Firewall Dragon of course helped out in many different cases, swarming, field removal and one turn kills, which made it extremely viable. This made it something that Yusaku used in extremely rare cases so that people couldn't work up counters to it. Though it was probably useless now since Revolver had probably thought of at least five strategies to counter it after being beaten by it once.

"Can I look around to check all the individual cards first? I don't think these cards suit my playing style.." His voice trailed out at the end as his meaning was clear.

Himura shook his head once and grinned, "Tough customer, eh? Been a while since I've had someone like you. Feel free to look around. Yuna can show you around. Can't you?" He looked over Yusaku's shoulder behind him, where Yuna stood.

She jumped up and saluted, "Yep! Leave it to me! I'll show you the best cards in the whole shop!" Without any explanation, she turned backwards and walked off. Yusaku followed, seeing as he had no other choice, her to a sort of cupboard with a glass pane, revealing hundreds of cards behind it. She slid open the pane and stepped to the side, "Check it out. Grandpa doesn't get a lot of rare cards nowadays since this is a small shop, but he's been hoarding cards of value which are considered nearly impossible to find now."

Yusaku peered into the casing and saw many different cards inside. His eyes widened at the cards inside. Negate Attack. Mirror Force. Enemy Controller. Pot of Greed. "These cards are for sale?" He asked enquistorially.

Yuna shook her head side to side, "Well not really, he gives them to people he likes. Though there haven't been many duelists that can impress him lately. You should be fine though."

"**This guy? Why do you have so much confidence in him. I wouldn't trust him to impress his classmates, forget about strangers.**" Ai questioned.

Yuna giggled at Ai's statement, while Yusaku bristled at the comment. "He'll be fine. He beat me without much trouble, he's saved VRAINS multiple times over and he is a good person." She listed off facts as she counted off her fingers.

"I'm not good. I only fought Hanoi for my own reasons, and the other Ignis because they were connected in the destruction of the Cyberse World." Yusaku refuted the fact, unwilling to accept praise.

Yuna shook her head in the negative as she closed the case back, "Nope. I refuse to believe that you're a bad person after you stopped to help me, a total stranger. Now, come on. Let's show you some cards can actually get." She turned around and walked into a different aisle. This one had hooks containing different packs, along with cards of multiple copies stacked inside cupboards upon cupboards.

Yusaku checked the price tag of a few tags while mentally running calculations on what he could buy, and should buy with his extremely limited expense budget. He glossed over the cards, not seeing any of his interest, when suddenly he felt a spark, a pull, towards his left. He turned to see a card displayed in a frame in a desolate corner. A single card. A Link Monster. Instinct drew him closer to the case, and as he got closer, he could finally see the name of the card.

**Black Luster Soldier-Soldier of Chaos LINK-3 Warrior/Effect/LINK ATK 3000 EARTH**

"Oh! That card! It's amazing isn't it? That's the one card Grandpa never sells. That card actually got recalled back by the company who made it, they got all of them back but this one copy. Grandpa never told anyone he had it, so those big shot companies never came down here. He started putting it in display in this area, 'cause not many people look in this area. You're basically the first person to find it." Yuna chattered on, gushing over the card.

Yusaku's expression remained neutral as he examined the card. He could have sworn that he felt a connection with this card, almost as if it was calling out to him.

"Ah! I see you have found the joker in the deck of cards, so as to say. You noticed that card's specialty?" Himura had appeared behind them with stealth that wouldn't be possible in a man of his age.

Yusaku shook his head in the affirmative, "It called out to me. I felt something." Was all he said. No other explanation was needed. Duelists everywhere had told stories about being connected to cards, one or many depended upon the individual. Once a person found his true deck, they rarely ever changed it.

Himura looked thoughtful for a second, and then grinned a genuine, warm smile which would be expected of a grandparent. He reached out and pulled the card out of the case taking it back with him to the counter. Yusaku and Yuna watched all this with confused eyes.

"Grandpa?" Yuna asked, as she chased after him. "What're you doing?" Himura had already reached the counter and there was this glow to him that wouldn't be seen in an old man. He was shuffling around with cards, taking them out flipping them, and rearranging them with speed that not many professional duelists could manage.

Yusaku waited for him to finish, and when he did, all that remained in his hand was a deck, all the cards were face up, with Black Luster Soldier-Soldier of Chaos sitting on top. Yusaku's eyes widened in surprise. Was he-?

"Fujiki-kun, when I got this card I thought it was an accident. This was a small shop which didn't attract too many customers. But now I know, it wasn't an accident. It was destiny. I was given this card to hand it to the right person. I believe you are that person. People have come to this shop and went away without giving that card a sliver of attention. But you were called out by it, chosen by the card. I have made this deck in the hopes that someone will finally be chosen by it. Please, take it." He finished his speech by bowing a bit, and handing out the deck.

Yusaku couldn't remember many moments when he was speechless, but he was right now. What should he do right now? Did he take the deck for free, when Himura was offering it to him? He knew he didn't have enough funds to pay for whatever good cards he might have put in with the already supposed ultra rare, one of a kind card. But could he reject it? What sort of compromise could he come up with..?

"I'll take it." The old man's smile widened, but Yusaku spoke up, "But, don't be mistaken to think that I'll take it for free. I have every intention of paying you back, yen for yen for every card in this deck."

Himura didn't seem to shaken by it, he just nodded in an agreeing manner, and said, "Won't you test it out? I want to see what a you can do with that monster."

Yuna grabbed his hand from the side, "Yeah! Duel me! Me! I'll beat you this time!" She shouted while dragging him along.

'This day feels longer than usual..' Sighed Yusaku.

* * *

**Author's Note: So, it's been a while. I know. A lot has been happening in the world since the last chapter, hope everyone stays safe at home.**

**Here are things I should go ahead and explain:**

**1)Black Luster Soldier-Soldier of Chaos: Yugi used Kuriboh, Jaden used Winged Kuriboh and so on.. till Yusaku used Linkuriboh. Yugi had Gaia the Fierce Knight, while Yusaku used a Link Variant, Gaia Saber, The Lightning Shadow. I think it sort of shows how the torch keeps passing on to different protagonists. So, for his real life I needed a Link Variant of an original card. So, Black Luster Soldier-Soldier of Chaos. I hope you all like my pick.**

**2)Yuna: She will be using Aroma monsters for the time being, I don't have any plans for her switching up her deck into another one. She will obviously grow in strength, by challenging new opponents and Yusaku himself again and again. Don't worry, she won't suddenly become stronger than say, Revolver or Soulburner, because I hate it when OCs start coming along and suddenly beat up protagonist and his/her gang.**

**3)The Duel: I am a Cyberse(Not Salamangreat, just all the monsters that Playmaker used) user in real life and am therefore much more knowledgeable about playing it rather than Aroma's which is probably visible in the duel. Cyberse Clock Dragon had to come out and end it because her Yuna's life points were growing out of control, and its an OTK strategy I've used a few times myself. I don't have any Dueling Simulator like YGOPRO or the like where I can make my own cards to test them, so I had to remember each and every detail about the duel in my head. So if there were any mistakes in the duel please forgive me.**

**4)Next Chapter: Don't know. I'm preparing for college entrance exams, so probably a month or more until the next chapter. If I publish it early, you will get the notification.**

**I was about to make the chapter longer, but I decided that it should be fine if I left it here, so yeah.**

**Remember to tell me your views, PM me, Review, Favorite and Follow.**

**Regards.**

**OmegaLordTheFirst.**

* * *

**Edit: Just a few spelling mistakes, and bolding of Ai's sentences that I found**


	3. Into the VRAINS

**Author's Note: Hey guys, I'm back! Hopefully you all enjoy the chapter. There won't be any duels for some chapters since they take a lot of effort and time, which could be used in writing more chapters. Hope you guys understand.**

**Upon some suggestions I recieved from HunterHQ(They've been vital in me writing my duels, and giving me suggestions), I've decided to make Yusaku's deck a Gaia deck with Black Luster thrown in the mix. That settles Yusaku's deck. Takeru's deck was decided by you, the people. So, he's going to be using Fire Warriors. Aoi will use Trickstars, Shima has his baboons. **

**The problem that is left is their President, Hosoda(I might have gotten that name wrong, I'm too lazy to check). What deck should he use? Should it even be mentioned in the story? Hopefully you guys Review and help me out with this conundrum.**

**We'll talk about the rest after the chapter is over. See you at the bottom!**

* * *

Chapter 3

Into the VRAINS

After Yusaku had accepted the deck from Himura, Yuna had challenged him to a duel again. Instead of duelling again in the huge room reserved for duels, Yuna dragged him to her room for the duel, where they had old style tabletop duels with proper game mats and everything.

Of course, Yuna couldn't win even a single duel against the duelist with tri-colored hair, even when Yusaku was using the new deck Himura had gifted, no _lent_, him. Yusaku was getting used to the cards and reasoned that even if it wasn't Cyberse, it would be usable in real life. Once again Soldier of Chaos depleted Yuna's life points to 0, and she fell flat on the table, exhausted.

"Man! You're too strong.. and top of that Grandpa gave you the best card in this shop.. I can't win.." She pouted, disappointed at her repeated losses against the same duelist. Yusaku meanwhile wasn't faring much better, being forced to duel over and over again was no joke. Mentally, he was running on fumes. Looking around the room made him realise where he was. The entire room was filled with posters and toys of Duel Monsters, many of which showed Playmaker on the forefront.

Ai, noticing his gaze towards the photos, seemed to realise what Yusaku was thinking, "**Even I didn't know people liked Playmaker so much. If I knew, then I would have probably made some deals with them so that we could make some money of this merchandise.**" He said in a disappointed tone, as if missing out on a sale or a lottery, though seeing Yusaku's glare made him take back his words. "**Come on, ease up. I was just kidding, I won't actually do it." **He dismissed Yusaku with a wave of his hand, and then displayed the time on his duel disk.

Yusaku looked at the time, and his eyes widened, "I have to go, Kusanagi is probably-"

"**I already messaged him that you'd be late, so there's no need to worry.**" Ai bragged out, puffing out his digital chest. "**Come on, say it, I'm the best partner ever aren't I?**"

Yusaku snorted, "A moderately sensible AI would have told me that it was getting late, and seeing as you didn't.." He left that statement as it was, for Ai's digital brain to contemplate its meaning. A moment later a 'Hey!' resounded through the room as Yuna chuckled at their banter, though a frown appeared on her face as Yusaku stood up and stretched his arms and legs.

"You're leaving?" She asked with a horrified look, which made the hero of VRAINS look confused as he had no idea why she was so adverse to his idea of leaving.

"It's getting late, I have to get back to my apartment. Why? Am I supposed to stay?" He replied back, confusion etched on his face. As soon as he said those words, Yuna seemed to become embarrassed and started shaking her head in the negative.

"N-no, not at all. I was just wondering when you'd be back. Yeah, that's all, Fujiki-senpai." She stuttered out somehow with a grin, which only served to enlarge the confusion on Yusaku's face.

"Back? What for?" Was the immediate response that Yusaku threw back, hearing which Yuna's eyes widened and her features contorted into a frown, after which she turned away to hide her face. Ai immediately piped up from his position, which was Yusaku's duel disk, in retaliation of Yusaku's response.

"**Will you make the poor girl spell the whole thing out for you? She obviously wants to be friends with you, and you're just stepping all over her heart. I thought I had taught you better than that, Yusaku-chan.**" Ai responed in a scolding manner, like one would when someone's kid had broken something.

Ai's reply made Yusaku stop for a moment to consider what he said, did Yuna really want to be friends with someone like him? Their personalities were completely different not to mention their age difference of about five years. Yusaku wasn't sure about that last one since he didn't know her exact age, his only hint was that she was a junior high student. Considering all his choices carefully, he said, "You shouldn't be friends with me. People close to me get hurt." Anyone who had joined forces with him had gotten hurt. Faces started flashing in his mind. Blue Angel and Go Onizuka when they had tried to help him in his fight against Revolver, Soulburner, who had tried so desperately to defeat Bohman for Yusaku's sake, Revolver, who had perished because Lightning was holding Jin hostage, Ai, because he too was trying to protect Yusaku from his death, even Kusanagi, who Yusaku had to wipe out with his own hands to continue with his justice. Of course, in the end everyone had been fine when all was said and done, even Ai had returned to him(although it took a few months for Yusaku to find and convince him to return).

Hearing his answer made Yuna turn her face back to him and almost shout out in an indignant voice, "I don't care! You're the first good duelist who ever considered my challenge seriously, and when you said that you don't want to come back, I just-" Her voice broke as she was unable to complete her sentence, tears were threatening to spill out of the corner of her eyes.

Seeing her tears, Ai quickly spoke in an urgent tone, "**Come on, see? You made her cry, now do something to fix this.**" He crossed his arms and glared at Yusaku as if it would intimidate the saviour of VRAINS. Though, seeing her tears had already stirred up guilt in Yusaku, guilt that he hadn't felt in a long time.

He knelt down so he was on the same level as her on the floor, though Yuna still refused to look at him. Thinking about what to say, he composed his thoughts and then spoke, "I apologise for hurting your feelings. If you want, then I'll come back here again, and even duel you." That was all it took as Yuna suddenly assaulted him with a hug that crushed his breath. She seemed to have stopped crying now, and was instead murmuring 'Thank You' again and again into his shoulder. He didn't even know what to do in a hug, was he supposed to hug back? Or would it be too awkward? So instead, he chose to simply chose to stay still until she let go.

When she did, she was beaming brightly. Too brightly.

"**Hey, aren't you a little bit too happy?**" Questioned Ai, as he knew there was no way Yusaku would pick up on these small emotional cues.

Yuna hid her grin behind a palm, as she explained, "Well.. I might have been faking those tears to get Playmaker to come visit me again." Hearing this, made Yusaku sigh as he put his head in his hands. He took a breath of defeat after being tricked by a person nearly 5 five years younger than him.

"I'll be going then, I'll come back to the shop tomorrow, probably in the evening." He said in a defeated tone, as he walked to the door out of the room and slid it open. He heard shuffling behind him and opening of drawers, but he ignored it choosing to get out of there as fast-.

"Wait!" 'There went that idea' Yuna shouted behind him, and as he turned around she had a munch of markers in one hand and a rolled up chart in another. "Have you given any person your autograph?"

"I don't _have_ an autograph." Was what Yusaku chose to reply with, annoyance welling up inside his head. For some reason this cheered her up even more, and he didn't have a good feeling about whatever was coming. Something that could make a middle schooler happy was bound to increase the frown creases on his face.

She unrolled the chart paper that who knows where she got it from to reveal a poster of.. him? Or to be more precise, it was a poster of Playmaker. It looked like a photo from his debut, when he first appeared on a live feed to fight the knight of Hanoi causing rampage across the VRAINS server. Decode Talker was rushing forward, sword poised as if ready to slash the poster apart any minute. His confusion must have showed on his face as Yuna elaborated, "That means you haven't given your autograph out to anyone. I want to have your first autograph!"

"**Autograph? Hey, Yusaku, this would be good practice for when we get famous.**" Ai said, from inside his duel disk in that distinct tone he had for making fun of Yusaku, making him question where his partner's loyalties stood.

Sighing, he decided to get it over with and head home to rest his body, after some time in VRAINS of course. Taking a marker from Yuna's outstretched hand, and the poster, he set it on the floor and asked, "Where?"

She put a finger to her chin, as if deep in thought and then voiced out, "In the corner, near Decode Talker's leg." Yusaku followed her instructions and wrote out the word 'Playmaker' with as much flourish he could manage, and if he himself thought about it, he would say it looked acceptable. Yuna looked like a kid would if they had been given an unlimited candy supply, her grin stretching from ear to ear.

Seeing that his work was finally done, he asked, "So, can I go _now_?"

"Yup! Just remember to be back for another duel tomorrow. I'll think of something to beat you by then." She said with cheeriness that Yusaku hadn't seen in himself since.. well, ever. Quickly banishing his chain of thoughts, he instead turned around and walked out of the door, and down the flight of wooden, creaky stairs. He found his shoes at the bottom of the stairs, which he swiftly put back on. He checked all his belongings to see if he had everything. Duel disk and Ai, check. Dummy deck, check. Cyberses, check. Soldier of Chaos, check. Walking out of the front door, a chilling wind assaulted his chest, his jacket providing little defence against the attack of winter.

He really hoped he didn't catch a cold.

* * *

The Next Day

A yawn escaped Yusaku's mouth as he swiftly walked to school. Last night's VRAINS exploration hadn't yielded much, they had been exploring the regions filled with Data Storms for the past week, and it had yielded many new Cyberse cards for strengthening Soulburner's and Blue Maiden's decks. Unfortunately, last night the data storms hadn't been too powerful and thus, they'd been unable to get anything new out of them.

An arm slung over his shoulder while he was distracted, making him stagger, "Yusaku! I heard that you agreed to participate in the Inter High Dueling Championship! That's great! I was worried I was going to be alone there.." Takeru's voice was heard, and he had a relieved tint in it. "But will you be fine? I mean with your deck and all?"

Ai saved him from responding, at least he was good for something, "**Don't worry Takeru. Yusaku and I went to a card shop yesterday, we seriously upgraded his deck with all sorts of powerful cards.**"

"Really?" Takeru was intruiged by Ai's statement, and now wanted to see Yusaku's deck himself, but he knew it would be rude to ask. Yusaku swiftly pried himself away from Takeru's hand and bristly walked to the school, making Takeru sprint a bit to keep up. "Why do you seem to be in a hurry today?"

Yusaku, instead of answering, lifted his duel disk, which was now displaying the time: 7:57. 3 minutes till the school gates closed.

"EHHH! Why are you this calm, Yusaku? Come on, run! We can still make it." Takeru shouted as he grabbed Yusaku's hand and dragged him towards the school gates at full speed. Yusaku just sighed as his body was forced to pay more energy than usual, and allowed Takeru to drag him to school.

In the end, they barely made it past the gate in time. The gate was being closed, but they slid through at the last moment. They were both heaving for breaths, Yusaku more than Takeru due to his comparatively weaker body. Slowly, after getting rid of their fatigue with a few deep breaths, they continued onwards to class and Yusaku mentally prepared himself to sleep for another six hours.

* * *

He stretched his arms as he exited the class and made his way to the Duel Club. Takeru seemed to be excited at the prospect of Yusaku finally dueling in real life, while Yusaku himself only cared about the sleep which he would be missing out on. Takeru opened the door and went in first, and Yusaku followed behind. The general clutter and commotion seemed to cease as they entered the classroom, their members spouted out pleasantries and welcomes, which Takeru happily reciprocated with words of his own, but Yusaku accepted with a nod and just went to sit.

After everyone was seated, their President, Sen Hosoda, resumed the meeting. "Fujiki-kun, Zaizen told me that you agreed to participate." Seeing his nod of agreement, he continued, "Well then, you'll have to fill out this form, so I can upload this onto their website." He handed out the form which had already been filled out by Naoki, Hosoda and Aoi. He first handed it over to Takeru, who was sitting closer to the rest than Yusaku was. Takeru took it with a cheerful smile and started filling it with enthusiasm, something that wasn't witnessed on Yusaku's face while he filled it out.

"Uhm. Senpai?" Questioned Aoi Zaizen, after she raised her hand slightly. She waited for his attention to shift to her, and when it did, she spoke up, "You said you were going to tell us the format for the Championship, so.."

Hosoda remembered what he was going to explain, and exclaimed, "Ah! Yes, so according to the official rulebook that was uploaded on their official website, the matches are going to be 1 on 1 in the first rounds, 3 on 3 for the later matches, and 5 on 5 in the finals, or at least that's what I remember. I should check again in case they have been updated."

Takeru interjected this time, "And Senpai, where is the tournament being conducted exactly? You haven't said anything about that, and it would have to be a big place for a tournament of this size." He asked, while thinking about the topic.

Hosoda's glasses gained a slight tint to them, like an anime character would, as he started explaining, "I deliberately refrained from mentioning it till now, I wanted to surprise you all, but I guess I'll have to let go of the secret... The Championship is being held, in Den City." He waited for it to sink into all the members, and when it did, they all had a rather explosive reaction.

"Heh?!"

"What?"

"You're joking, right Senpai?"

These were all just some of the things that Hosoda heard, and he tried to calm them down as best he could, and continued after they finally had, "SOL Technologies have agreed with the tournament conductors to lend them their Dueling Stadium, you all know it right, the big one near the edge of the city?"

"You mean King's Arena?!" This time it was Naoki who surprisingly answered, correctly or not was yet to be seen.

"Yes, Shima-kun, King's Arena. It's usually reserved for pro dueling circuits, but I guess SOL must have seen it as a profitable venture to advertise themselves. I can't really say why they did it, I just know they did." Hosoda explained while walking across the room and collecting some objects from various drawers. He finally stopped with a small stack of papers, and some stamps. "The club is dismissed for today, I have to get these papers approved by the Principal so we can take part. We'll start practice tomorrow." He precariously balanced the objects in his hands, as he opened the door with his leg and walked out. As soon as he left, the members had different reactions. Naoki got up to talk to his _best friend_ about how he'd been polishing his already awesome skills, Aoi got up to leave, and Yusaku was already walking out of the door with Takeru trailing behind.

"Yusaku! Wait up!" Takeru shouted as he managed to catch up with his friend. "Where are you going so quickly? I have never seen you move so quickly?"

"**Well you see, Yusaku was asked to pick someone up.**" Ai responded cryptically, making Yusaku sigh as he felt another headache moving in

He held up his duel disk, so Ai was face to face with him, "You should learn to be quiet." His glare was easily shrugged off by Ai, who was used to it.

"Wait, hold up. Yusaku is meeting someone? Other than Kusanagi, Zaizen or me?" The red-white haired boy asked in bewilderment.

"Yes, I received a message to pick her up from school." Yusaku explained simply, hoping he would drop the issue, even though he all but knew the outcome. And true to his prediction, Takeru chose to pursue further. He explained the whole incident which had happened a day before, about Hyuga and his goons, Yuna deducing his identity, and the deck he received from Himura.

Takeru clenched his hand into a fist and smashed it into his open handed palm, while grinding his teeth, "Damnit! If I see that guy, I'll beat him down so bad that he won't look at a kid ever again. I hope you beat him down good, for his sake." His eyes displayed that fiery rage, which symbolised his VRAINS avatar's name. Seeing his anger, Yusaku put a hand on his shoulder, and tried to quell his rage.

"Calm down, Takeru. Nothing good will come out of senseless rage." Flame was the one who would have done this task, but seeing as he was not present, it was down to Yusaku to try to calm down the hot headed duelist, less he do something he would regret later.

Hearing those familiar words seemed to work, as Takeru calmed down visibly, and smiled a bit, "Yeah, sorry about that. But I hate people who bully those who are weaker than them, it reminds me of the, you know."

"I know. Yuna messaged me on my duel disk to ask if I can come to pick her up from school. Himura's shop is busier than usual today, and he can't make it. So I have to go." Yusaku stated in that dull tone that had persisted with him since about ten years.

Takeru seemed to be surprised that Yusaku was even ready to go, considering the type of person he was, he himself was also surprised at his actions. But he reasoned that he didn't have anything better to do right now, and therefore agreed to the chore. "I'll come with you. I'm curious to see the person who challenged you to a duel, _after_ figuring out your identity." He gave that smirk, which was the trademark one of Soulburner.

Sighing, Yusaku motioned him to follow along, and Takeru dutifully did so. They exited the school building together, and stopped to look at Yusaku's duel disk, which was showing the location Yuna had sent with a green marker. Checking the quickest route there, with Ai's help, they both set off towards their location. While Yusaku was messaging Kusanagi about how it might take some time for him to go home, Takeru also messaged someone, not that Yusaku asked about his private conversations.

"**We're here.**" Ai told them just before they turned the corner, and as they did, the building came into view. The name of the bulding was engraved on a huge board plastered on the wall, Akito Prefecture Junior High.

It seemed they had arrived too late, as almost no one was seen streaming out of the school, and Yusaku was confused. 'Why would she tell us to come and leave on her own?' Was the thought that ran through his mind, just before a huge force crashed into him from behind making his knees almost buckle from the weight. Somehow he kept himself standing, and Takeru turned around to see a strange sight.

A girl was clinging onto Yusaku's shoulder and forcing him to carry both their weights with a grin on her face, "Senpai! You came! I didn't think you would, so that means, you do care!" She jumped off Yusaku, allowing him to finally stand up straight, and pointed an accusatory finger at him.

Yusaku didn't look shaken in the slightest as he just shook his head and said, "Nonsense, I am indebted to your grandfather. I did this to help him out. And there's something that's been bothering me, you don't look like someone who'll need someone to escort you home, so why did you call me?"

Without losing a beat she replied, "Because we're friends, do I need a reason to talk to you?" She kept grinning, while on the other hand Yusaku started developing a wall to protect himself against her lies, he had been tricked by her twice in two days. It was almost shameful.

Takeru chose this time to interject, "Um, should I go?" He asked uncertainly, sweating slightly at the display. Yusaku shook his head in the negative, and pointed a hand at him and Yuna.

"Yuna, meet Homura Takeru , a friend. Takeru, this is Suzuki Yuna, the one I told you about." He introduced both of them to each other, and while Takeru gave a grin to make her feel comfortable, Yuna gazed at Takeru to figure out what his connection to _her _Playmaker was.

"Soulburner, I'm guessing?" She asked after looking at his duel disk, which mirrored Yusaku's.

"Eh? You really are as sharp as Yusaku said you are." Takeru replied with amazement as he rubbed his neck in embarrassment at being found out so quickly. "How did you figure it out?"

Yuna grinned as she heard that her idol had praised her, excitedly she explained, "Well, Fujiki-senpai doesn't look like a guy who has a lot friends, and you had the same type of duel disk as him. Soulburner is Playmaker's first known ally to consistently work with him, and he has the same type of duel disk to hold physical cards. So by putting those things together, it was pretty easy." She bragged, hoping to impress Playmaker.

Yusaku just turned around and started walking away without saying a word, making Takeru sweatdrop. Yuna started chasing after him, hoping to get him to stop. "Wait, wait! Come on, please! We can do something interesting, like... going into the VRAINS!" This made Yusaku stop as he actually considered the offer.

"**You're actually considering it Yusaku?! Wow, you really have grown soft.**" Ai mused, while rubbing his chin thoughtfully. This only earned him a glare from Yusaku, who after a moment, turned back and motioned both of them to follow.

Takeru and Yuna jogged and caught up to the green eyed duelist, who started explaining, "We'll go to my apartment and log into VRAINS, Kusanagi's truck is far too small to accomodate all three of us, not to mention how suspicious it would look." Seeing his point they both walked behind him, and followed him to his apartment. They climbed a small flight of stairs, and came to a room where they both stopped for Yusaku to take out a key. He opened the door and walked in, holding it open for the two people to enter, and as they did he locked the door behind them.

"Master has returned home! And he brought friends! Roboppy is glad." Roboppy's chirpy voice came from near his bed, where it was dusting the sheets. "Roboppy will prepare some food for Master and his friends."

A fond smile came upon Yusaku, which no _human_ had ever seen, and Takeru and Yuna were taken aback by the expression which wasn't seen on Yusaku's face. "That won't be necessary Roboppy, we're going into the VRAINS."

"Oh ok, be safe Master." Roboppy's digital eyes tilted into carets(^^) in happiness as Yusaku knelt down and petted it's head once. When he got back up, that neutral expression was back on his face, which everyone was accustomed to seeing.

"Will this be your first time in VRAINS?" The question was directed at Yuna obviously.

"Nope! It'll be fine though, I wanted my first time in VRAINS to be an amazing experience, and now that you're going with me, I know it will be awesome." Yuna stated without a care in the world as she looked around his room, disappointed by the lack of, well, basically everything. Besides a bed, a small table with a computer on it, another empty table, two chairs and a few shelves, the room was completely bare. There were no photos of any family members, no gifts from anyone, it was almost like he had no memories of anyone. Takeru also looked around worriedly, concerned for the wellbeing of his friend.

"Yusaku.. isn't this place a little.. empty?" Was the carefully worded question that came out of Takeru's mouth. If Yusaku heard the question, he didn't acknowledge it. Instead he walked to the windows, and pulled the shutters down, blocking the sunlight streaming through the window. Now the only source of light in the small, dingy apartment was of a lightbulb hanging overhead.

Yusaku let out a sigh and then said, "It has everything I need, that's enough. Let's go." He walked back towards the empty wall to the confusion, leading to the growth of confusion in Yuna's and Takeru's minds. Though that was erased as soon as Yusaku pressed a button on the wall, and the entire wall opened up, into a high tech looking room. A Duel Room. It was almost identical to the one in Kusanagi's truck.

Takeru thought about Yusaku's response, and sadly thought, 'You have what you need, but what about what you want..' He didn't voice anything out, knowing that Yusaku didn't like people prying into his personal life. While Yuna bounded ahead, already entranced by the secret room. The room was large enough to accommodate all three of them. Yusaku held up his hand and got ready to enter the Virtual Reality Artificial Intelligence Network System.

"Ready?" He asked the two remaining companions with him. Takeru held up his duel disk, grinning at the prospect of entering VRAINS again after a long time. On the other hand, Yuna held up a hand making them both stop. "What is it now?" Yusaku asked, hoping it wasn't a major problem.

"Well.. I haven't really made my character." The answer made Yusaku and Takeru both facepalm, while Ai was the one who vocalized their reactions.

"**Seriously?!**" He asked incredulously, "**You can duel like a pro, you suggested going into LINK VRAINS, but you still haven't made a character?!**" The feeling of both veteran duelists was voiced out in Ai's question.

Yuna grinned widely, not at all discouraged, and said, "Yup! Don't worry, it should be done in a second." She pulled up a customisation page on her duel disk, which was displayed by the duel disk as a page in front of her face. Her fingers flew over the page, selecting and deselecting accessories, colors and various other things which could be customised in a character.

After a few moments of awkward silence, the hologram page in front of her finally closed, and Yuna shouted, "Done!"

Yusaku shook his head once in agreement, which was mirrored by Takeru. The trio of duelists held up their hands, and their voices resounded, "Into the VRAINS!" as their consciousness was sucked away into a virtual world.

* * *

**Author's Note: So? Was it good? Rate and Review!**

**Here are some things I need help with:**

**1) Hosoda's deck: I have come up with some ideas for his deck, but it would be better if I had some ideas to at least choose from. Help me out people! Would Roids work?**

**2) Decks for random people: Which archetypes can be used for random people who duel against Yusaku and gang? I need at least ten ideas for random people so I have some flexibility in choosing matchups.**

**3) Naoki: Should I actually have some character development for him? Or just give him the comedy relief treatment? Or should it be a balance of both?**

**4) Poll: A new poll will be up after this chapter is released. It will contain the next opponent for Yuna, so vote wisely. If you want some other option, you can PM me, your option will be considered.**

**5) Next chapter: I worked a lot for this chapter, the next chapter will probably take some time. Don't expect it so soon, sorry.**

**As usual, tell me your opinion, by Rating or by PM.**

**Regards.**

**OmegaLordTheFirst.**


	4. Speed Duel

**Author's Note: I'm writing this chapter immediately after chapter 3, so I don't know the results of the poll, hopefully people will have voted by the time I get to that point. This chapter will be more Yuna-centric after the last 3 chapters were focused on Yusaku. Hopefully it doesn't tick some people off, don't worry Yusaku is still the main focus of the series, but I need character development for Yuna, so..yeah. So this chapter is for Soulburner and Yuna fans. **

**Hosoda's deck has been decided. I might showcase it in a duel later on in the story. I could just reveal it right here, but where's the fun in that?**

**Enjoy the chapter! We'll talk about the rest after the chapter in the author's note.**

**EDIT: Vampires won, and they will be fighting against the Aroma archetypye. I was rooting for Vampires XD**

* * *

Chapter 4

Speed Duel

* * *

"Into the VRAINS!"

* * *

When Yuna felt a breeze hit her face, she opened her eyes to find the most wondrous scene she had ever seen. The endless sky stretched out ahead of her till as far as her vision could see, buildings rose from the ground in the distance and the occasional duelist could be seen riding their D-Boards in the sky. She took a moment to look at her hand and saw the fingerless gloves on them. Looking down she admired what she was wearing. Red boots, blue knee length socks, a green skirt, a tank top. She brought a few strands of her hair in front of her eyes to see that they were colored pink, and a red cloak was pinned at her shoulders which went down to her waist, and also covered her head, like a hood.

"How is it?" Takeru- no, Soulburner asked her. She had almost forgotten that their were two companions with her, and not just anyone, they were Playmaker and Soulburner, the two strongest duelists in LINK VRAINS.

"It's amazing!" She replied, her mouth curving upwards into a cheery grin. "I didn't think VRAINS would be this amazing. And there are duelists everywhere in here, am I right?" She asked, her competitive spirit already burning with the desire to fight strong opponents.

"Yes, though you should be careful, you don't know which duelist is good at heart and who is bad. So proceed with caution." Playmaker spoke, his tone was scolding, warning her not to make a mistake. Even then, she was still in euphoria at being side by side with her idol, inside LINK VRAINS. She zoomed ahead, and maneuvered her D-Board in zig-zag motions that would surely give her grandfather a heart attack.

Soulburner shouted behind her, "Careful! You don't want to get hurt so quickly, try to get the hand of your D-Board, then go ahead with crazy maneuvers, We brought you here, so we have to take care of your safety." His voice almost made her lose her enthusiasm. The keyword being almost. As soon as she slowed down, Playmaker's voice caught up with her.

"I have to go to the Data Storm, we might make some progress." His voice was neutral, no sadness but at the same time, no joy. 'How could he not enjoy this?' Was the thought that ran through Yuna's mind

"Can I come with you?" She asked almost immediately, her eyes widening into huge orbs as she put forth her request.

He shook his head in the negative, making her pout. "It's a dangerous place. You don't have full control of your D-Board. If something goes wrong I can't guarantee your safety. First, master your D-Board with Soulburner's help, then I'll _consider _taking you if I want." He carefully worded his response to suit his needs, and luckily Yuna didn't seem to find anything wrong with it.

"I'd have preferred to go with you.. but fine. I'll accept." Yuna said, and immediately afterwards, backflipped with her D-Board and shouted while going towards the city, "I'll race you, Soulburner!"

Soulburner gave a wide grin as he said, "You're dreaming if you think I'll lose!" He turned his board and accelerated at an alarming rate, leaving Ai and Playmaker hovering alone.

Ai watched them leave, then turned around and asked, "Do you think they will be fine, Playmaker?" It wasn't as if he didn't trust Soulburner, but he still had to ask, just to be sure that Yusaku had considered his solution carefully. Because that's how Yusaku did everything. Staying ten steps ahead of everyone. That's what made him such an incredible duelist in Ai's opinion. If his opponent was trying to set up the board for their next turn, Yusaku would have already dismantled it and be planning their defeat from the first turn.

"I trust Soulburner." He didn't say whether they would be fine or not, but that he trusted Soulburner, which probably meant that he trusted him to get them out of a situation if anything went bad. Even if Yusaku would have preferred not to get involved in such a situation in the first place.

He turned his board around and sped off towards the edge of LINK VRAINS, where he could access the Data Storms more easily.

* * *

Soulburner managed to beat Yuna in their race to the city, and now they were hovering over the city while Yuna performed tricks with her D-Board. Soulburner hovered next to her, watching carefully, and fulfilling the important task Yusaku had given him.

While she was performing a sideways loop, she suddenly stopped and looked ahead, eyes wide, "What's that?" She questioned, a finger pointing towards the direction of the object which had stolen her curiosity. Soulburner followed her line of sight and tried to spot the object in question, and when he did he gave a smirk and explained.

"Ah! That's the memorial that Zaizen-san got commemorated in Playmaker's honour." He took pride in praising Yusaku, as he didn't ever get acknowledged for the good things he did for everyone. The hologram was as big as about a hundred feet, maybe even larger. It was a simple pose of him just standing, with Ai in his duel disk, in front of his chest, the other hand hanging by his side.

"Zaizen, as in Akira Zaizen? You know what? That doesn't matter right now. Come on! Let's get closer!" Yuna shouted in excitement, zooming off towards the hologram. Soulburner had to quickly speed up so that he didn't lose her, and they had to get to a lower height so as to see the memorial properly. They could finaly see the inscription written at the bottom, which said, 'PLAYMAKER, THE HERO OF VRAINS'.

"Wow! It's amazing! It looks so real!" Yuna commented in awe, while admiring the huge display of her idol.

Soulburner looked like he wanted to say something, but then he stopped and thought about something, and then asked, "By the way, what am I supposed to call you in VRAINS?"

Yuna looked back and her eyes widened, "You mean to say I didn't tell you my name?! After I spent so much time thinking about it, and I didn't even get to tell Playmaker.. anyways, it's Lifemage." She would have continued but suddenly she looked past him and asked in confusion, "Senpai? Is there a reason all those people are rushing to this location?"

"What do you-" He turned around to see what the newly named Lifemage was talking about, and his eyes widened in shock as he saw hundreds of duelists, reporters and fans running towards him. "Crap! Let's go! We have to get out of here!" He turned upwards and blasted in that direction, looking back for only a brief moment to make sure that Lifemage was following him, which she was. "Follow me!" He ducked back down into one of the alleys, and hoped that he could outmaneuver the crowd. He zipped between the alleys, making sharp and random turns at the crossroads, while constantly accelerating. When the noise of the crowd behind him disappered, he finally slowed down and dared a look behind him. Seeing no one behind him, he relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. At that moment a thought struck him that he _wasn't _supposed to be alone, Lifemage was supposed to be with him..

Immediately, he turned around and shouted, "LIFEMAGE! Where are you?!" He was about to blast forward in the direction from where he came from, when suddenly a voice was heard from above him.

Yuna was giggling while sitting on her D-Board while dangling her legs, "Got you!" She was treating it all like a joke, and for a moment Soulburner wished he could be just as carefree. He had been moving on from the Lost Incident, but to completely heal, it would still take some time.

He breathed a sigh of relief, and then a grin overcame his face, "Don't do that, I was worried that you got left behind. Still, you kept up with me at that speed?" He asked, almost shocked at her natural reflexes for riding a D-Board.

"Nope! While everyone was focused on you, I went upwards and above the buildings, and sure enough they didn't pay attention to me and crazily went after you." She easily explained while spinning her D-Board around.

"Man, Playmaker was right, you are sharp!" Soulburner praised her, and as her turned around to leave the alley, a voice interrupted them from above the alleys.

"Oh? Playmaker said that?" The newcomer said, who's flashy appearance said more about his personality than his words. He wore a royal red coat, and red jeans to match his upper body clothes. His hair, which contrasted the rest of his body, was white, while he too wore a cloak to cover his torso. "Then you might actually be willing to display your skills?"

"What do you mean?" Lifemage's voice had an edge to it that would make people become guarded, regardless the unknown duelist laughed as if he expected this question.

"Well, I don't think he's that amazing. I mean if he really is strong, he would accept all the challenges that come to him, right? But he obviously hides because he is scared of losing." The red clothed duelist said, in a condescending tone, with a smirk plastered on his face.

"Hey! Shut up about Playmaker! Or I'll shut you up!" Soulburner declared fiercely, as he grasped his fist in his other hand, making embers come out of his fist. He stepped forward to defend his ally's honour but Lifemage put up a hand between him and his would be opponent. Her eyes were burning a fire even fiercer than Soulburner's.

"Senpai.. Let me fight him.. I'll defend Playmaker's honour." She said while holding up her duel disk, as she straightened herself on her D-Board. She looked back to see if Soulburner would allow her to fight in his place.

Soulburner looked into her eyes and saw a sort of determination that he saw on Yusaku's face every time he was dueling, and he shook his head once. "Alright! Go for it! Beat him down!" He encouraged her with a confident smile.

"Thank you!" She flew up to face the duelist who had been disrespecting Playmaker, "Before we duel, I'd like to know who you are to be so confident and ridicule Playmaker like that. And just so we're even, I'll tell you my name first. I am Lifemage." She spat out with barely concealed rage.

"Since you asked so nicely, I'll deign to tell you." He replied with contempt, "I am King Crimson. Remember it before I beat you." He cockily replied as he raised his D-Board and flew off into the sky. Lifemage flew off behind him as Soulburner trailed behind.

"So we're having a Speed Duel?" Lifemage questioned, as she started recalling the rules for this format of dueling. A vague memory came into her mind that she had heard the name of the opponent before him, but she shook of her distracting thoughts and focused on the thing at hand.

"Yes, of course.. unless you're scared? Like your hero, Playmaker?" The duelist who could now be identified as King Crimson retorted.

"Of course I'm not! Let's start!" Lifemage shouted back angrily, as she held up her duel disk.

"Duel!" Both the duelists shouted, and the first duel that Lifemage would take part in since coming to VRAINS started at last.

**Lifemage v King Crimson**

**Lifemage: 4000**

**King Crimson: 4000**

"I'll take the first turn. I'll start by Summoning Vampire Sorcerer, then I'll set two cards and end my turn!" Crimson ended his turn by setting two cards while a scary monster appeared on his field.

**Vampire Sorcerer LVL 4 Zombie/Effect ATK/DEF 1500/1500 DARK**

"Vampires?" Murmured Lifemage as she eyed his monster, "Well anyways, it's my turn. I draw! I Summon Aromage Jasmine! And due to its effect I can Summon another Plant monster this turn! But first, I'll activate the Field Spell **Aroma Garden**! Then I will Summon, Aromage Cananga and due to Garden's effect I will gain 500 life points! Now Cananga's effect will activate, I can return 1 Spell or Trap card to your-"

"Like I didn't expect that! Counter Trap activate! **Vampire Domination**! I'll negate your effect, destroy it and then gain life points equal to its attack points." Crimson laughed as Cananga's blood was sucked out of her body into the Trap card, rejuvenating King Crimson's life points. But, Aroma Garden's effect also raised Lifemage's life points by 1000.

**Aromage Jasmine LVL 2 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 100**➡**600****/1900 LIGHT**

**Aromage Cananga LVL 3 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 1400/1000 EARTH**

**Lifemage: 4000**➡**5500**

**King Crimson: 4000**➡**5400**

Lifemage gritted her teeth while looking at the rise in life points of her enemy. Life point raising was supposed to be _ her_ tactic, and if he thought that he could get away with copying her strategy, he'd regret it. "I can still activate Jasmine's effect to draw a card since I gained life points." She put her hand on her duel disk and drew another card. "This will be more than enough to deal with you!" Declared Lifemage as she zoomed past King Crimson on her D-Board. "I can Special Summon Aromage Sunflower since my life points are higher than yours!"

**Aromage Sunflower**** LVL 3 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 1500**➡**2000****/900 LIGHT**

"Oh? Looks like you got quite a few monsters out.. are you going for a Link Summon now, like your so called _hero_?" Crimson mocked as he caught up and swerved to the side forcing Lifemage to pull back to avoid collision.

She snarled back and said, "Why don't you see for yourself? On the turn that Sunflower is Summoned, I can treat it as a Tuner." Lifemage declared and waited for it to sink into her opponent.

As expected, King Crimson's eyes widened as realization set in, "A tuner?!"

"That's right! I will activate the Continuous Spell **Aroma Gardening** and then I'll tune my Level 3 Aromage Sunflower and Level 2 Aromage Jasmine! Destroy the sadness in this world and fill it with life and beauty using your power, Synchro Summon! Level 5 Aromaseraphy Rosemary! Due to Gardening's effect I can gain another 1000 life points." This change is life points visibly disturbed King Crimson as the gap in their life points just increased marginally.

**Aromaseraphy Rosemary LVL 5 Plant/Synchro/Effect ATK/DEF 2000**➡**3000****/900 LIGHT**

**Lifemage: 5500+1000**➡**6500**

"3000 attack points! I'm guessing that's your ace monster? You sure know how to start things off.." Crimson commented with a smirk, apparently not moved much by the attack points. Lifemage took in his calm attitude, and considered it a bluff.

"I set two cards, and then, Aromaseraphy Rosemary attacks your Vampire Sorcerer! Natural Force!" She shouted, knowing that his facedown card could spoil her strategy. Regardless, Rosemary jumped up and fired off a blast towards Vampire Sorcerer, making it explode and sending its owner flying back a bit before he regained control of his D-Board and steadied himself.

**King Crimson: 5400-1500**➡**3900**

"Heh! I actually felt that. My Trap activates! **Vampire Takeover**! With this I can activate Vampire Kingdom directly from and my deck, and moreover, I can also Special Summon back the Vampire Sorcerer you destroyed! Hahahaha! You didn't even manage to deplete my original life points by more than 100 points, and that one monster I summoned is also back!" Crimson flaunted his life field, which made Lifemage extremely angry.

Soulburner was not much different as he too, was gritting his teeth in frustration. "That bastard! I'll make him pay!" He quickly zoomed ahead, less he lose them both and miss the happenings of the duel.

"I draw!" King Crimson drew one card from his deck and eyed it. "I will tribute Vampire Sorcerer to Tribute Summon, Vampire Servant!" He slammed down the card on his field and his new monster appeared by bursting out of his previous monster, seeing which Lifemage felt a chill run down her spine.

**Vampire Servant LVL 7 Zombie/Effect ATK/DEF 2000/1000 DARK**

"But a Level 7 requires 2 Tributes, so how did you summon it with only one?" Lifemage questioned as she saw her opponent's monster.

"Hmph, Servant is a monster that can be summoned with one tribute, but its attack points and defence points decrease by 500." King Crimson sadistically chuckled while explaining.

"That monster still only has 2000 attack points, it can't get anywhere near Rosemary's attack points." Lifemage declared, to assure herself more than intimidate her opponent.

It didn't seem to work as he laughed uncontrollably and continued, "If you think I'll let you off that easily, you're mistaken! I activate my skill!"

"A skill at this point?!" Soulburner exclaimed, as he too got a bad feeling while watching the duel.

"**Vampiric Soul**! This skill allows me to Normal Summon a Zombie monster from my hand, but it cannot attack this turn. Since Vampire Sorcerer is in the graveyard, I can banish it to Normal Summon without tributing. I'll Summon the Level 7 Vampire Vamp! At this moment, Vampire Vamp's effect will activate! I can equip your Aromaseraphy Rosemary to it and it gains attack points equal to your monsters attack monsters." Shouted the Vampire wielder as Vampire Vamp thrust her hand through Aromaseraphy's stomach and drained her of all her blood, and then dragged her back to King Crimson's field.

**Vampire Vamp LVL 7 Zombie/Effect ATK/D****EF 2000➡4000/2000 DARK**

While Lifemage was already contemplating the loss of her only monster, the ruthless duelist didn't let up as he shouted "But this only the beginning, since I'll use my two Level 7 Monsters and build the overlay network! Fill the night with terror once again and drain your victims' blood to attain power! Xyz Summon! Appear, Rank 7! Dracula, The Demonic Vampire!" He instantly built the overlay network with them, summoning out what Lifemage assumed was his ace monster.

**Dracula, The Demonic Vampire Rank 7 Zombie/Xyz/Effect ATK/DEF 2700/2000 DARK**

"So that's your ace monster?" She questioned, wanting to know whether her opponent was going into the match full force.

Crimson just chuckled and said, "You'll see.. I'll now activate Dracula's effect! I detach one Overlay Unit to make you send one card type of my choosing, Monster, Spell or Trap, from your deck to the graveyard, and then I can also send one Zombie type Monster to the graveyard, and if I do, I can target one card you control to destroy it. I'll have you send a Monster card to the graveyard and then I will destroy that pesky Spell Card you have, Aroma Gardening. But that's not all, Vampire Kingdom's effect can allow me to destroy another card on your field, since a card was sent from the deck to your graveyard. I'll destroy that Trap!" King Crimson declared, as her Continuous Spell was destroyed. The facedown Trap card which was destroyed, was revealed to be Negate Attack. Lifemage gritted her teeth in frustration as her protection was gone.

"Don't think your sufferings over. I can detach another Overlay Unit to Special Summon a Vampire monster from the graveyard. Come, Vampire Fredrick!" Crimson continued his turn without any interruptions, as he continued to put more monsters on his field, though this one was in defence position

**Vampire Fredrick LVL 5 Zombie/Effect ATK/DEF 500/2100 DARK**

Lifemage looked at her opponent's field not showing much sign of worry, as King Crimson just chuckled, "What's wrong? So scared you can't speak? Well I'll put an end to that. Let me let you in on a secret. I can banish Vampire Servant from my graveyard to double the attack points of one of my zombie monsters until the end of the turn. Do you get what that means for you? HAHAHAHA! Battle! Dracula attacks you directly! Scarlet Rampage! To seal your coffin, I'll also activate Fredrick's effect, allowing me to pay life points in multiples of 100 to increase Dracula's attack points by that much until the end of the Damage Step! Now, Vampire Kingdom's effect will increase my monster's attack points by another 500" Dracula moved his cloak to the side and ghostly shadows spilled out of his body as they were sent flying towards Lifemage.

**Dracula, The Demonic Vampire 2700**➡**5400**➡**6500**➡**7000**

**King Crimson: 3900-1100**➡**2800**

Just as they were about to collide with her, she held up her hand, activating the effect of a card. "Too bad for you! If you had fought me a few days earlier, it would have worked on me, but now, it will only spell your doom! Trap activate! **Blessed Winds**! I can return one Aroma monster from my graveyard to my deck and gain 500 life points! I'll return Aromage Jasmine."

**Lifemage: 6500+500**➡**7000**

Crimson laughed at her feeble attempt to survive, "Pointless! Dracula's attack points are still enough to wipe your life points out!" He declared confidently, feeling that his opponent had been beaten.

"Think again! I banish Bacon Saver from my graveyard to negate your attack!" Shouted Lifemage as the entire attack was blocked by a ghostly Zombie monster, protecting Lifemage from any and all damage.

Even Soulburner was shocked, "When did that monster go to the graveyard?" He voiced out his confusion.

Lifemage turned around and posed with a smirk while chuckling, "Hehe! It was when he used Dracula's effect and made me send a Monster card from my deck to the graveyard. It came in handy right now!"

Crimson grinded his teeth in anger. "You used my own effect against me.." His fangs showed through his teeth, probably meant to inspire fear in those who saw them, but Lifemage just giggled at his weak attempt.

Before King Crimson could react anymore to her counter, she continued, "My turn! Draw!"

**Dracula, The Demonic Vampire 7000**➡**2700**

"Just because you had one good card, don't think you can beat me! You still only have 1 card in your hand, while Dracula is already on my field. What can you possibly hope to do at this point?" Crimson taunted, despite the fact that Lifemage had higher life points than him.

She turned her D-Board around and faced her opponent, "Every card can be used to win the game, provided that you know how to. I'll show you right now! I activate my skill! **Life Bloom**! I can use this skill when you control the monster with the highest attack on the field. It allows me to activate a Spell or Trap card with "Aroma" in its text, directly from my hand or deck! I'll activate the Trap **Dried Winds **from my deck! I will use Blessed Wind's effect and pay 1000 life points to Special Summon an Aroma monster from my graveyard. Come, Aromaseraphy Rosemary! Now, I can activate the first effect of Dried Winds, which can only be used when my life points are at least 3000 points higher than you. Seeing as how our difference is 3200 points, I am allowed to use it. Now, I can pay life points up to the difference and destroy monsters on your field whose combined attack points are equal to the life points I paid." She held up her hand as it glowed, a sun-like aura enveloped her body. She brought back her ace she had previously summoned. The Vampiric monsters on her opponent's field turned to dust as her trap glowed absorbed her life and fired it off at her opponent.

**Lifemage: 7000-4200**➡**2800**

Soulburner was forced to put up his hand as well, lest he be blinded by the sun-like glow of Lifemage's card.

"You're using up your own life points?!" King Crimson asked in a flustered tone, clearly not expecting the same strategy that he used from his opposing duelist. He had to shut his eyes to protect them from the intense blinding light that her card was releasing. Doing so caused him to veer off balance and steer away from the duel. Though that didn't stop Lifemage from stopping her offense, as she continued forward, ready to finish the duel.

"I can pay 1000 life points to use the second effect of Blessed Winds. It allows me to Special Summon an Aroma Monster from my graveyard! Come, Aromaseraphy Rosemary!" She shouted while her life points were absorbed and her ace monster appeared again from among an explosion of petals. "Now I discard Aromaseraphy Angelica to gain life points equal to the attack points of an Aroma monster in my graveyard. I'll gain Cananga's 1400 life points."

**Lifemage: 2800+1400**➡**4200**

**Aromaseraphy Rosemary 2000**➡**2500**

"Hmph, your monster hasn't amassed enough attack points to end me, and now, on the next turn-" King Crimson was cut off as Lifemage interrupted his monologue.

"Don't interrupt me when I'm not finished!" She angrily shouted while holding up her hand, "You forgot Aroma Garden's effect didn't you?"

Crimson thought for a moment, and then paled, "But then, my life points will be-"

"Zero!" Declared Lifemage in joy as she continued by increasing her ace's attack points. "Aroma Garden's effect will inncrease both, my life points as well as my monster's attack points by 500! Rosemary attacks you directly! Natural Force!" Rosemary focused energy at the tip of her staff, and fired it off at her opponent. With nothing to protect himself, the blast hit King Crimson directly in the chest and threw him off his duel disk. The forceful log out feature of the duel disk activated, and his body dissolved into pixels in mid-air."

**Lifemage: 4200+500**➡**4700**

**Aromaseraphy Rosemary 2500**➡**3000**

**King Crimson 2800-3000**➡**0**

**Winner: Lifemage**

Lifemage slowed down her D-Board as she breathed in the air of victory. Aromaseraphy Rosemary laughed and twirled as she too vanished along with her other cards. Suddenly a voice spoke from beside her, disrupting her revel in victory.

"You _are _good at dueling.." The voice whom she now recognised as Soulburner's said.

She kneeled on her duel disk in exhaustion, feeling fatigue from the duel catch up, despite not having taken any damage. She laughed a bit and then said, "What? Did you not believe Playmaker's words?" There was a teasing tone in her voice, which Soulburner immediately caught on to.

He rubbed the back of his neck embarassingly, and said, "I meant that I could finally confirm your skills with my own eyes. Not that I had any doubts." He quickly added, covering up his mistake. It didn't seem like Lifemage minded much, as she laughed it off.

A voice interrupted them from the side, "Did I miss anything?" They both immediately turned around, ready to take on the intruder, who was revealed to be... Playmaker.

"**You all sure seem to be enjoying yourselves. What were you doing all this time?**" It was Ai who asked the question this time, his tone was curious unlike Playmaker's neutral one.

Lifemage and Soulburner explained the entire situation to Playmaker and Ai. After they were finished, Playmaker thought over the situation and asked, "How much life points did you use in the duel?"

The question surprised both Soulburner and Lifemage. Regardless, she complied with his question and thought over the duel, then answered, "4200 life points, I think.."

Playmaker's eyes widened at the answer, immediately he said, "We're logging out." Without waiting for an answer, his avatar vanished away. Soulburner and Lifemage shared a confused look, but still logged out.

* * *

When Yuna opened her eyes, she remembered where she had logged in from. Playmaker's.. No, Fujiki Yusaku's house. He might be Playmaker in LINK VRAINS, but in real life he was Fujiki Yusaku. Her legs immediately buckled, and led to her falling to the ground. She steadied herself and with a lot of strain, straightened herself. Her vision was blurred and she couldn't see clearly. Why was she feeling so weak..?

Just as she was about to fall back down again, she felt something slide under her arm. She was guided out of the duel room by the person who was helping her to stand. Slowly, her blurred vision cleared and she looked to the side to see Fujiki-senpai supporting her, as they walked out of the room. His face still didn't show concern, despite what he must be feeling for him to act so quickly and cautiously.

He started setting her down and she went along with his actions, feeling a cold, hard bed underneath her. Finally, after sitting down, some strength started returning to her limbs, and she tested them by moving them around a bit. Fujiki-senpai had already left her side, and as she looked around she first saw Homura-senpai looking worriedly at her. He didn't seem to know what to do, and it was understandable, since it wasn't his house. Still, he asked, "How are you feeling?" The tone of worry was obvious in his voice, it was how her grandfather spoke when she would get down with a cold.

As soon as he asked it, she realized how exhausted she was actually feeling, and voiced it out, "Exhausted. But it doesn't make any sense... Yesterday, I dueled Fujiki-senpai multiple times over, and didn't get this tired. But one duel in VRAINS.. and this happens?" She said, as the throbbing in her head started subsiding. A water bottle suddenly dangled in front of her face, and she looked up to see that it was the blue-pink haired duelist who had brought her the drink. She gratefully accepted the drink, and drank it down, quelling the fire in her throat.

Setting it down she asked, "What happened? I didn't take any damage in the duel, and yet I feel this tired." The question was burning in her mind, and even though she knew about how LINK VRAINS had an automatic log out feature to prevent too much mental damage, since she hadn't taken any damage, she had thought she would be fine.

"Damage from a duel isn't the only way to take mental damage in VRAINS." Yusaku said, making both Yuna and Takeru surprised.

"What do you mean, Yusaku?" Takeru was the one who asked this question, he too was perplexed by what his friend had said.

Ai responded to this question, he got out of the duel disk and said, "**Let the great Ai-sama explain. While you are in VRAINS, only your brain is there, while your physical body is here, in the real world. So when you take any sort of damage in VRAINS, it can't convert into any sort of physical damage, but instead it causes mental damage. Did you get that?**" Seeing both nods, he continued, "**VRAINS has the automatic log out system to prevent any excess damage that may be caused to the brain. Depleting your life points to 0 automatically triggers the system, and it logs you out to stop any further harm. But no system is perfect, and this system cannot log a person out in between a duel. So, Yuna-chan, even though your life points weren't 0, during the duel you paid a total of 4200 life points, which caused you the same amount of mental damage you would have taken if your life points had fallen from 4000 to 0. Moreover, this was your first duel in VRAINS, so your body isn't conditioned for this feeling. It should get better as you get used to VRAINS.**" His explanation caused both listener's eyes to widen in shock.

"Seriously?!" Takeru voiced out in shock, "I never knew VRAINS had such a complex system.."

Yuna finally sat up straight as her pain had finally subsided to bearable levels. "I'll have to be careful from now on. My strategy involves raising my life points so I can stall, and demolish my opponent's life points to win. But if I lose the duel when I had raised my life points to higher levels, it'll be especially bad for me..." She mused while putting a finger under her chin, deep in thought.

"For now, you should go home." Declared Yusaku, making Yuna look at the time on her duel disk. 6:34. Time seemed to pass quickly when in VRAINS, or it could just be that time seemed to flow quickly when one was enjoying something. Regardless, she complied and got up to leave. As she and Takeru got out of the door to leave, they heard the door behind them click and lock into place. Turning around, Yuna saw that Yusaku had closed the door, and was outside with them.

"Uhm.. Fujiki-senpai-" Yuna started, but was cut off by Yusaku.

"First, Stop calling me Senpai. Second, You aren't feeling well, so I owe it to your grandfather that I deliver you home safely. Third, I need to get something to eat." He listed off these reasons as if he had read her mind and knew that she was going to ask him why he had come out with them.

Takeru piped up from the side, "Oh yeah! Don't feel obligated to call us Senpai, call us whatever you want." His kind tone was contrasting to his fiery personality that he had in the virtual world.

Yuna thought about what they said for a second, and then said, "It wouldn't feel right to have no honorific, since you both are years older than me."

"You make us sound old.." Takeru sweat dropped at her statement, though Yuna didn't seem to hear his interjection.

"How about I call you Yusaku-nii-san, and Takeru-san?" She voiced out her suggestion, and Yusaku face palmed at her suggestion.

"Works for me." Takeru said, not noticing Yusaku's plight while Ai cackled in the background.

"Let's just go." Yusaku said, not interested in arguing his point anymore. He exited the building and felt a cool breeze hit his face. The streets were alive with cars and people, even at this time. Takeru went off with a wave, leaving for his own house. Yusaku and Yuna turned in the direction of Himura's card shop, and started walking towards it. There wasn't any conversation between them, and neither did Yuna say anything, knowing that Yusaku preferred silence over conversation. It was a quiet walk and as they were about to turn into the residential district, a voice called out from the side, "Suzuki-kun?"

Yuna turned at the mention of the name, asking "Who-" And immediately stopped her line of questioning. "Oh, it's just you." Her previous excitement was gone, replaced with boredom, and a subtle hint of hostility. The newcomer was wearing the same red school coat that Yuna was, which made Yusaku assume that they went to the same school. Apart from the school uniform, he was wearing no extra accessory save for his glasses and a duel disk, which made him seem like a no nonsense model student with a passion for dueling.

"Showing a little respect wouldn't kill you, Suzuki-san." The newcomer said, "I, as the Duel Club President, have a responsibility to look after all its members. You should go straight home from school. If you wander around in the school uniform, then it only serves to damage our reputation." His words made it sound like he was worried about her safety, but Yuna didn't let up on her disrespectful attitude.

"Ho? Then you mean to say that if I do something damaging without wearing the school uniform, its fine? Isn't that what you mean, four eyed Hayama?" Yuna retorted, in a tone that was clearly meant to get under the man known as Hayama's skin.

Immediately he gained a dangerous glint in his eye, and raised his duel disk in retaliation, "I have other ways to make you show respect, you know? If you think you can win against me in a duel-" His raising hand was stopped by Yusaku as he grabbed it suddenly.

"It's getting late, if you want to duel her, then do it at school tomorrow." He said, in a voice that was different from his usual dull tone he used in real life. This seemed more bold, one that seemed closer to Playmaker than Yusaku.

Hayama broke free from his grasp and now settled for pointing his duel disk at Yusaku, "You're from Den City High School.." He said that after recognizing his uniform, and then said, "Your Duel Club was just established this year, don't but into duel club's affair unless you can hold up your argument with your dueling. Or would you rather duel me?"

Yusaku immediately declined, "No. Not interested." He had already turned around and started walking off.

Hayama would have called him out for his cowardice, if he wasn't so far away, on top of that he didn't want to create a scene in public.

Yuna started following Yusaku, but then stopped, and turned around, "Don't think Nii-san refused the duel because he isn't strong. He refused it because he isn't interested in dueling _you_." With that said, she turned around and skipped away, following the tri-haired duelist.

Hayama just stood there, contemplating what she had said. Shocked that someone had gained Suzuki Yuna's respect so easily, when he had been demanding, and been refused, of it for the past year.

* * *

**Author's Note: So? How was it? Let me know by reviewing and PM me. Let's get down to business.**

**1) Duel: Vampires seem to be the opposite of Aroma(as a concept). When Aroma creates life of its own, Vampires drain life from their opponents. Thus, it was a cool concept that I thought of and thought about writing. I'm glad that Vampires won the polling, because those were what I had thought about of writing in the first place.**

**2) King Crimson: Did you guys notice that his looks were based on Vampire Lord? His name is does appear in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, I know, but I just can't think of good names for the life of me. Maybe you guys can help me in making names next time. PM me if interested.**

**3) VRAINS: I was world building and thought of cool concepts as to why people use duels to settle everything. The two concepts I came up with were Solid Vision and Mental Damage. Solid Vision(despite how it should actually help in erasing any problem the world has) is restricted to being used in card games, or at the very least, that's how it will be in this fic. So, due to Solid Vision's existence, you can do whatever you want as long as you are the superior duelist. Moving onto the virtual world, we have Mental Damage. In the anime, Ai explained how if Playmaker crashed into the ground, he would take a lot of mental damage and thus, suffer flashbacks in real life. We also see that duelists log out instantly after losing a duel in many cases. With these cases, I have world built the concept that taking too much damage in VRAINS will put mental strain upon your brain, and thus could cause harm. Hopefully, its a good enough concept for me to world build further, and hopefully, you all like it.**

**4) Next Chapter: I'm really tired after writing this chapter, since writing on my phone proves to be difficult, and I write directly on this site to freely work across several devices. But sometimes the site becomes extremely slow, and just doesn't open, and so, the moments when I'm free get wasted. Moreover, my laptop is also used by my family, so I don't always get to occupy it. Hope you all understand. Next chapter will probably take more than a week, maybe even two weeks, sorry.**

**Regards.**

**OmegaLordTheFirst.**


	5. Waiting and Training

**Author's Note: Working with a character like Yusaku is extremely hard for me. In the anime, he is shown to have a single room apartment. No bathroom, no kitchen, no wardrobe, no books. Nothing. His room was almost described as it was in Chapter 3. I don't even know how he survives. I assume that Kusanagi gives him food and money to eat, from his part time job. And he got some money from his parents.. but I'll talk about this later, no spoilers. ^^**

**On the topic of his parents, according to the wiki, Yusaku is the first protagonist since Jaden to not have his parent/family be important to the story, or mentioned in any way. With Jaden, it would be easy to write since he goes to Duel Academy, but Yusaku doesn't, so... yeah. If any of you have ideas on how he has that apartment to himself, PM me.**

**This chapter finally explains what happened during the three months Ai was gone. People have been curious about it and I finally decided to write it out. I'm not really satisfied with how it came out, I might rewrite it at a later point. Naoki will be having character development, maybe not in this chapter, but in the coming chapters, maybe. So celebrate people!**

* * *

Chapter 5

Waiting and Training

* * *

Ai.. Why was it that Ai had died and Yusaku had lived? It shouldn't have been like this.

Ai, who had wanted nothing but to save Yusaku.. had been slain by his own hands. The same hands which he had used for all those years to carry out justice, and fight against the Knights of Hanoi. Now he wanted nothing more than to rip them off and throw them away. The only thing that stopped him from doing so was that it would make Ai's death useless.

Yusaku had been asked by Ai if he was a good partner. Of course, Playmaker told him that he was the best partner he had. His heart had allowed nothing else but the truth. Ai had only been on this path of war against humanity because he had seen Yusaku die in the simulations he ran, in every single one. He had believed that out of the two of them, only one could survive. And in the end, Ai had died, whereas Yusaku lived.

So why did it hurt so much? It was what Ai wanted didn't he? If he didn't like it, it would be disrespecting his final wishes.

Could things have worked out differently? Would Yusaku have been able to convince Ai to stop if he tried more? If he had then Playmaker wouldn't have been forced to. Its not like he could change things now. Even with all the miracles that duels were said to have accomplished, he firmly believed that time travel was impossible. For Yusaku at least.

His eyes felt heavy from the lack of sleep. How could he sleep, when he was haunted by the voices of his partner? Ai... Even thinking of his name made his chest hurt. He couldn't let go of his memory and just get on with his life, Ai didn't deserve to be forgotten, especially by Yusaku. Wasn't Yusaku the one who was most cruel to Ai? The one who always muted him, or told him to shut up. Perhaps it was true that you only realised the importance of something after you lost it.

_Huh? Where am I?_

His eyes snapped open as soon as he heard that voice. No, not heard. He had sensed it. There was this sudden surge of strength that forced him to stand up from his bed. That was Ai's voice. Had he imagined it? It didn't feel like it. It had activated his ability which Ai had dubbed Link Sense. It had been Ai's voice that had called out to him from within the network, he was sure of it. With a renewed sense of vigour and energy that he hadn't been feeling for the past three days, he got up and sat down at the computer. It was something that he had cobbled up one day on a whim, when he had wanted to hack into government databases in search of the Knights of Hanoi using spare parts that the neighbors were going to throw away.

He knelt down and reached beneath his bed, and retrieved the broken body of his cleaning bot, Roboppy. Roboppy, who had dedicated everything to serve him as faithfully as he could. Even after Ai had improved his programming, the original code that Yusaku himself wrote had broken out in the end. It showed that despite being only a machine, not even an Ignis, he had truly formed a bond with Yusaku.

He separated the bottom part of his body and removed the programming chip that was basically his brain, and fed it into the computer. The scan took time and it was torturous for Yusaku to wait for so long for such a simple task. Eventually, the scan was completed and Yusaku viewed the coding that had allowed Roboppy to develop and grow a personality.

The coding was broken in places, he assumed these were the places where Ai had modified them, which Roboppy had later rejected. He set down to restore the broken areas, and made a few upgrades which he hadn't known when he had first built Roboppy. It was tiring work, but after a few days, the coding was almost restored as to how it probably had been before Ai had declared war on humanity. Removing the chip from the computer, he placed it back in Roboppy's circuitry, and screwed back the cover. He switched the power to on and waited, praying to whoever might be listening, for this relatively small task, as compared to what he was going to attempt to do, to work.

Yellow dashes appeared on his screen, where his face would be, signifying his eyes. The dashes blinked on and off, as a human would do when woken from a long sleep. Yusaku's chest tightened and he felt tears welling in his eyes, if it didn't work after this much effort, his chest would burst from pain. A voice came out of the speaker, making Yusaku focus all his attention on the words, "Where am I? What am I doing here?" Yusaku could feel a few tears spill out of the corner of his eyes, but he somehow managed to keep the rest in.

Roboppy suddenly seemed to have noticed him, swiveling his robotic head, an expression of confusion overtaking it, "Master? What are you doing here? Where's big bro?" Yusaku couldn't bring himself to tell Roboppy that Ai was.. No. Ai was still alive. He had to be. Yusaku would accept no other alternative.

Kneeling down, instead of answering his questions, he asked one of his own, "What do you remember?" Roboppy's circle like eyes became dashes again, as if deep in thought.

"Roboppy remembers dueling Master's friend.." Roboppy said, and it wasn't something that was useful to Yusaku. "Roboppy is sorry for going against Master! Don't throw Roboppy away!" His small arms grabbed his leg and attempted to cling onto him. Yusaku patted his head once, never having any intention of throwing him away in the first place.

"Anything else? Anything?" He pleaded, the desperation in his voice was obvious to even Roboppy as he tried to move around and comfort Yusaku.

His metallic arms flailed around as if he was trying to desperately think of something, "Uhm, uhm... Yes! Roboppy remembers! Big bro told me that after all this was over, he would go to Cyberse World!" Yusaku clung onto his every world, and a million thoughts ran through his brain, but only one came to the front.

"After this was _over_? He didn't say after he _won_?" Yusaku voiced out his question, feeling a tiny bubble of hope swell among the grief that was threatening to flood his chest.

"No.. Where is big bro, Master?" He asked, not yet understanding the severity of what had happened after he died. Yusaku's words choked in his throat, they wouldn't come out. He didn't even know what he would say if his voice worked properly. Not being able to take the hopeful look that Roboppy was giving him, his hands moved to its power button, and flicked it to off. Instantly, the yellow carets died out instantly, and Yusaku was left alone once again.

Silence descended upon his room again, but unlike other times, where silence was comfortable, this silence was heavy and uncomfortable to an unbearable degree. He had to do something, focus. Focus on three things. First, find out where Ai was. Second, convince him that I won't die because of him. Third, bring him home. Reciting his mantra gave him the strength he needed to move. Getting up from the ground, he headed back to his bedside desk, where his duel disk and deck lay discarded.

He picked up the duel disk and inserted it on his arm, but his hand hovered uncertainly over his deck. Wasn't it this deck that had killed Ai?

'What would Ai think if he saw me right now?' This thought came forward into his brain and a distant laughter came to mind with some snarky remark, always ready to make fun of him. He would probably laugh at 'Playmaker' for being so uncertain. Taking a deep breath, he fortified his resolution and picked up the deck and inserted it into the duel disk.

"Deck set! Into the VRAINS!"

* * *

He materialized in the virtual world on his D-Board, like always. Taking a deep breath he sensed the presence of the network, the familiar presence which he had grown accustomed to since he was a child. On instinct, he maneuvered his way towards the deepest parts of LINK VRAINS, where he had fought Ai for the first and last time. He located it much easily this time, having been there one time already. The residing place of the Ignis. Cyberse World.

It was as much of a barren wasteland as it had been the first time he'd gotten here. That hadn't changed. Jumping off his D-Board, he landed on the ground and walked around. There was no one in sight, and why would they be? All the Ignis had perished, this place was useless to anyone. Still, Ai's presence could be sensed by him. He was close by.

"So you came.. Playmaker." A voice spoke behind him, making his bones freeze up. He was almost too scared to turn around, scared that this might not be real and was only going on in his head, and Ai was really... No. This had to be real. Steeling his nerves he turned around to see... Ai, in his SOLtis form, just like he had been on the day Yusaku last saw him.

"Ai.." Playmaker called out, his voice almost breaking with even this small effort to say something. "Is this real? Are you real?" That was the first thing he had to know, whether he had gone delusional, or was he still sane.

Ai laughed a bit and said, "Come on, there's no way I can be fake can I? Besides, you think anyone else can look this handsome?" He said in that snarky and confident tone which would have cracked up most people. Yusaku settled for glaring at him for making a joke at this point. He defensively put up his hands, and said, "Hey, hey. Calm down. I'm sorry, I'll try to read the mood next time." Ai said while trying to wiggle his way out of Yusaku's rage.

"How are you still alive?" Yusaku asked the question which had been plaguing his mind since he came here.

Ai looked embarrassed at that, as he looked away and said, "I had a backup made of myself before we dueled, and stored it here in Cyberse World. It was for the case that I lost to you. I wanted to rebuild this place, and then die of my own accord." He explained away his future death with a casual wave of his hand. "Though I didn't expect you to sense me out with your Link Sense.."

Instantly, Playmaker ran towards Ai, and grabbed his arm in a desperation that people wouldn't ever associate with him. "No! You can't die! Not again!" He shouted out and Ai gave a sad stare back that conveyed pity.

"Playmaker.. Yusaku. I have seen you die if I live. You always sacrifice yourself just so that I can live. Why can't you let me be the one to sacrifice for once?" Anger seeped into his voice. He wanted to protect his origin even if it cost him his life.

Playmaker glared back at him, and a normal person would be unsettled by it, but Ai stared back just as fiercely. "Your simulations are wrong! They can't predict every possible future! Did it predict me coming back and finding you? Did you see the future where you still lived, after we duelled?" Playmaker protested vehemently against Ai's reasoning.

Ai's eyes widened in realization but soon enough, they narrowed back as he said, "It doesn't matter! I've seen you die too many times in simulations, I will not stand by and let it become reality!" His voice shook with anger while he had broken free of Playmaker's grip.

Playmaker's voice grew unusually soft for him personality. He was basically pleading at this point, "Please.. Ai. If you come back, then I promise I won't die. If you don't then.. then I don't know what I will do. I have done nothing but destroy my whole life, and you were the one good thing that came from me. If you go away, then what will I have to live for?" He asked as tears streamed down his face. Despite the tears, he forced his argument forward and made one final attempt at convincing Ai.

Ai went silent, as if making a decision and thinking of all the possible outcomes. After some time, he finally said, breaking the silence between them, "I'm sorry Playmaker, but I can't come back with you." With a wave of his hand, data storms closed in on him, swallowing his avatar whole.

* * *

Yusaku woke with a start, panting for breaths that evaded him at first but came back slowly, all the while Ai's voice was heard in the background, saying, 'Waku up! Oh! You woke up!' Yusaku's chest heaved for air and Ai noticed the obvious discomfort that Yusaku was feeling and promptly shut up.

As Yusaku's breaths got steady, Ai asked, "What happened?" He knew it was probably something sensitive, and there was a possibility that Yusaku might not answer, but he had to at least try.

"I had a nightmare.." Ai remained silent, hoping Yusaku would paint some sort of clearer picture of what had freaked him out. Luckily for Ai, he did, "It was after our duel, when I was alone. I found you, but you refused to come back." Instantly, a stab of emotion blew through Ai's chest. He assumed that this was the emotion that humans called guilt.

"I'm sorry-" Ai tried to apologise but was instantly cut off as Yusaku held up his hand.

"Don't worry, you're back. It's my fault for dwelling on the past. Now, what did you wake me up for so early in the morning on a Saturday?" He changed the topic, and instead questioned his actions. Instead of replying, Ai displayed a message that was sent on his duel disk. The time stamp read 23:07, Friday. It was from Takeru.

"Takeru? What did he want to say so late at night?" Curious, Yusaku clicked the message opening it. It read, 'Yusaku, sorry if you read this too late. This plan was made in a rush, and I got to know this about 10 minutes ago myself. Hosoda-senpai made a plan that the Duel Club should meet tomorrow at 10:00 to make strategies and practice for the tournament. Come to Asahara Park tomorrow, Naoki said that its usually empty in the morning, and has a big enough place to duel properly.'

Swiping away the message he got up and reached under his bed, pulling out a suitcase. Opening it revealed it to be full of clothes, some were messily thrown in, while others seemed like they had never been worn. Seeing an old, dirtied brown coat brought back memories of his childhood. This was the same coat he had liked to wear when he was small. It was also the one he wore during the Lost Incident. Shoving those memories along with the coat down into the trunk he picked out the hoodie he wore while going out for anything not school related. It would at least protect from the winter cold.

As he headed off towards the door he raised his hand, Ai made the duel disk fly up and attached it onto Yusaku's arm. There was a map which Ai was displaying on his disk, highlighting Asahara park. Next to the park was a building which displayed Naoki's face as a marker. "What's this?" Yusaku asked as he finished locking the door, and left his apartment.

The page zoomed in on Naoki's icon and his address was displayed in the building right next to the park. Suddenly it clicked for Yusaku. "Did he-?"

"**Recommend Asahara park because it was right next to his house? Yup!**** People think he's an idiot, but he can figure out ways to benefit himself in such sneaky ways. Even Ai-sama was fooled by his looks.**" Ai thoughtfully said while rubbing his chin. Hearing his explanation, Yusaku felt a pang of irritation because he was being forced to walk to Asahara park early in the morning just because it would be extremely convenient for Naoki. "**By the way, what should we do about Yuna-chan?**"

"What about her?" Yusaku questioned back, not seeing the point that his partner was trying to emphasize.

Ai facepalmed at his response, "**Oh, come on! She's probably expecting you to come visit her today as well, will you just leave her hanging?**" He asked in a disappointed tone, as if scolding Yusaku for his thoughtless words.

Yusaku thought about it for a moment, and then said, "Message her that I have practice today, I'll see if I can come by in the evening." His response was given after thinking about his schedule, and considering the situation he was in.

"**Eh? You really are growing soft aren't you, Yusaku?**" Ai cheekily responded while typing out the message as Yusaku had instructed. He sent the message, as Yusaku walked towards Asahara Park. The wind was cold, but not uncomfortably so. His hoodie protected him from the worst of it, but he still covered his ears with the hood, which were growing colder with time. He didn't really get out often, instead preferring to spend his time in VRAINS. He had held no connections with the real world, his parents having passed away a long time ago, and the Lost Incident taking away his ability to make friends, if he had any in the first place.

Sighing, he turned the corner and almost hit another boy. Sidestepping, he avoided the collision and walked away without a second thought. It took him a few minutes to reach the park. As he walked into the park, he saw Naoki, Hosoda, Takeru and Zaizen already in the park, probably waiting for him. Their talking ceased as he walked closer to them, Takeru turned around and shouted, "Yusaku! You made it!" He walked towards him and slung his arm over his neck, and started to drag him towards the rest of the group. "We were starting to think you weren't going to show." His enthusiasm at Yusaku showing up was evident on his face by his huge grin.

"Get off.." Yusaku said in a low voice, while shrugging him off, and even though Takeru complied, his cheerful smile remained on his face. "I read the message this morning." He stated his reason for being late, and Hosoda acknowledged it with a shake of his head.

"It's my fault for making this last minute plans, but seeing as how the tournament starts in a few days, I thought we should use the remaining days carefully and judiciously." Hosoda explained, and everyone shook their head in agreements. It was a logical decision, the tournament was supposed to start from 1st January, and today's date was 22nd December, that gave them less than 10 days to prepare for the tournament.

"Heh! With my skills, we need less than 10 minutes to be ready for the tournament, the great Brave Max will help you with win the entire championship." He boasted out loud, posing as his virtual self.

"Then you won't have a problem helping me train up for the tournament, will you, Shima-san?" Aoi Zaizen, who at this point was used to her teammate's shenanigans, asked. Her question had Naoki crumble from his posing as he started coughing violently.

"_cough cough._ I don't seem to be feeling very well, perhaps some other time Zaizen.." He managed to stutter out as Hosoda sighed from the side, disappointed at who they were being forced to have on their team.

'Even a five year old would be better on this team.' Was the thought that ran through Hosoda's mind, instead of voicing it out though, he held up his duel disk and mailed all the teammates a file. Their duel disks pinged as a notification popped up, signifying a message. Confused, they all tapped on it to find a copy of the rulebook of the Inter High Dueling Championship. "I have mailed you all a copy of the official handbook that was available to all the participating teams, make sure you all understand the basic ruling. I will give you all the ruling though, since the actual copy is too long to go through. Should we start?" He asked them all.

A varying 'Yes,' or 'Sure,' was received in response, so Hosoda started explaining the rulings of the tournament. He told them about how the new rules for Duel Monsters would be used, and the first two rounds would be one on one matchups to eliminate the excess of participants who were joining this year. While everyone else listened carefully, or at least pretended to in Naoki's case, Yusaku was busy reading the handbook on his own.

After some time, when it looked like Hosoda had finally finished explaining the rules, he stopped for a minute to take a breath. "Now that that's done, should we have some duels?" He asked after he had recovered from his long speech.

"Yeah! Let's do it Senpai!" Takeru energetically exclaimed, a sentiment which wasn't shared by his much less enthusiastic friend. Aoi just nodded her head to show her approval, whereas Naoki seemed to be torn between agreeing or disagreeing. Agreeing would mean that he _might_ lose and lose his _fame and respect_ in the process, but disagreeing would bring suspicion upon him. In the end, Naoki settled for laughing and trying to agree without saying much by nodding his head. Yusaku, as usual, didn't participate in any decision making and opted to stay quiet.

"Who would like to duel first?" Hosoda asked, after everyone had agreed. Well, almost everyone. Everyone looked at each other, not wanting to take away another person's chance to duel. In the end, it was Takeru who ended up raising his hand. "Alright, Homura-kun is going first, who is going to duel him?" Naoki jumped at the opportunity to duel someone who wasn't the Zaizen sister or their President, because those two had already beaten him, multiple times over.

"Hmph, I, Naoki Shima, the partner of the great Playmaker, will show you how a pro duels. Pay attention Homura-kun, you might pick up a few things.." Naoki snickered, thinking it would be an easy match that even he should be able to win.

"Duel!"

* * *

The duel wasn't even a challenge. For Takeru, that is. Naoki's Baboons were cut down by the different types of Warriors that Takeru had summoned to his field. Phoenix Gearfried slashed away at Naoki's last remaining monster as Takeru shouted, "Flaming Sword!"

**Naoki: 1200**➡**0**

**Winner: Takeru**

Naoki fell back in shock as his life points were reduced to 0. "Ahh! Homura..you are really good, though today feels like an off day for me, so don't expect to win again." He said while getting back up and rubbing his bruised back, while trying to heal his pride.

Hosoda stepped between the two of them while saying, "I think that's enough for today. Naoki let's review what you did wrong in that duel, even if it will take all day to it. The rest of you can go."

Naoki protested again at this, "But President... I said it was an off day for me.. I'll win tomorrow with some better luck.." He drawled out in an exasperated tone.

Surprisingly, it was Yusaku who spoke up at this time, as opposed to Hosoda or Aoi, who would have been the ones to shut him up. "You will lose again, whether you duel Takeru today, tomorrow or after a year." Yusaku spoke up, in contrast to his usual silent persona.

Naoki seemed to be so shocked that it looked like he would fall back down again, "Huh!? How do you know that Fujiki?" He asked in a perplexed tone, as if asking him to solve a complex duel puzzle.

"There are three reasons why I said you will lose to Takeru again and again. First: You don't know what your own cards can do because you never read their effects properly, which should be basically impossible since you made that deck. Second, Takeru knows his deck inside-out and he can play it extremely efficiently. Third, your deck just can't stand upto Takeru's." He listed out the reasons for Naoki's loss as if reading out a grocery list. With each statement, Naoki was pushed deeper into the pit of depression.

"What the hell man?! You're just stamping over my pride as a duelist, don't think I'll let it go just because you're my best friend." Naoki declared passionately as the fires of revenge burned in his eyes. "Wait a minute.. how did you even know that I built that deck myself?" He asked as Yusaku's words caught up to him and registered in his mind.

Yusaku sighed and walked past Naoki without a care in the world. Glancing back without missing a beat in his steps, he said, "Nobody else could have made a deck that bad." With that said, he turned back and walked away from the rest of the Duel Club members. He could hear Takeru's full blown laughter, the Zaizen sister's light giggle, even Hosoda was laughing lightly. Naoki was protesting vehemently in the background, but Yusaku paid no attention to his ramblings.

Takeru saw Yusaku walking away, and his eyes widened, "Ahh! Yusaku! Wait for me!" He started running, but paused to turn around and bow, "We'll be taking our leave now Senpai. Will we be doing the same thing tomorrow?" He asked while raising his head.

"Yes, but from tomorrow, we'll focus on the strategy and decks of all our members, instead of just Naoki. So be prepared for that." He said, while glaring at Naoki who was already busy posing again, as if the world would applaud for him. Takeru took this as his opportunity to leave, and ran after his best friend. He turned the corner and caught up to Yusaku, who was walking towards Café Nagi.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Takeru asked him, as he saw Yusaku shudder once in the cold and pull up his hoodie to further protect his face. Takeru himself hadn't really been bothered by the cold that much, it was like that since he was a child. Even though he knew that a real friend would offer help, Takeru knew it would be a useless gesture. Yusaku was the cold hero who rejected any help and comfort that others tried to give him. Instead, he settled for asking, "Feeling cold?"

Yusaku shook his head in the negative, and replied, "_I_ am going to eat some breakfast. The cold's not unbearable, I can deal with it." His reply was at least a little bit comforting to Takeru. Even if he knew that Yusaku was probably downgrading his own problem.

"You are going to Kusanagi's to eat breakfast?" Seeing him agree, Takeru continued, "That isn't very healthy for you Yusaku.. do you even eat or drink anything except hotdogs and coffee?"

"**You tell him Takeru. This meanie doesn't ever listen to me and my lectures about daily nutrient intake.**" Ai's voice came out in a lowly whisper so that it was only audible to both of them, and it was for the best. They didn't want any passerby to recognise the Dark Ignis.

Yusaku snorted at Ai's lecture and Takeru could see his hand hover over his Duel Disk's voice button but it eventually dropped as a sigh of exasperation escaped his mouth. Takeru had witnessed this banter countless times before and gotten used to it by now. If Ai hadn't been able to convince Yusaku to eat properly, then Takeru stood no chance.

"Let's go. I'm hungry, and after that I have to head to Yuna's place." Yusaku said while increasing his pace, leaving Takeru behind him.

Chuckling, Takeru started running and grabbed Yusaku's arm while sprinting past him, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Both of them were unaware of the pair of students who had been following their movements since they exited the park, while hiding their own movements in the shadows.

* * *

**Author's Note: So this chapter took a fair amount of time. I was busy catching up with my reading list, and didn't write for about 6-7 days, so sorry ^^.**

**I am not really happy with this chapter, with Ai's reunion, Yusaku's condition, and the Duel Club's first meeting. I might rewrite this chapter as a whole in the future. So, bear with me my loyal fans.**

**I didn't want to put in unnecessary effort in writing an obvious duel between Takeru and Naoki, thus I just included the end with Phoenix Gearfried. At the end of this author's note, I have included all the new cards that were used in the 3 duels that have taken place in this fic(Yusaku vs Hyuga, Yusaku vs Yuna, Lifemage vs King Crimson). I wanted to include the cards in the last chapter, but forgot to do so, so hope its not too much of a pain.**

**I tried to keep Naoki in character, by making him boast about his non-existent skills and etc. On the topic of him shouting out his VRAINS name in real life, Aoi told Ghost Girl that a classmate of hers boasted about being Playmaker's partner, and Ema told Aoi about him being Brave Max. Though it is most likely that she hacked the SOL Technologies database to obtain that info, I like to imagine that Naoki is an idiot who shouts out his identity in real life. ^^**

**Next chapter will be out in the next 2-3 weeks, heads up for that. I am slowly moving ahead towards the tournament, as you saw in this chapter. I set the dates near Christmas and New Year for some very specific reasons: **

**1) I wanted to have Yusaku walk around in snow. **

**2) It is a holiday period, and so would be the perfect time for him to be with friends, even if it's limited to Takeru, Kusanagi and now, Yuna. **

**3) I wanted to introduce another character into the story, and they would only fit in during a holiday period. **

**Besides, it makes sense doesn't it? One of the biggest Dueling Championships is during New Year, a time when everyone can watch it, thus making the profit for the organizers that much more.**

**See you all next time.**

**Regards**

**OmegaLordTheFirst.**

* * *

**Own cards:**

**Aromage Sunflower LVL 3 Plant/Effect ATK/DEF 1400/900 LIGHT  
**You can Special Summon this card from your hand while your LP are higher than your opponent. Once per turn you can target 1 Plant Monster you control; it is treated as a Tuner this turn. You can only Special Summon 1 Aromage Sunflower per turn. You can banish this card from your graveyard to draw 1 card.

**Aromage Marigold LINK-2 Plant/Link/Effect ATK/DEF 1200/800**** LIGHT  
**2 Plant Monsters  
When this card is Normal or Special Summoned, you can Special Summon 1 Plant type monster from your graveyard. You can banish this card from your graveyard, to negate the destruction of a Plant type monster on your field. You can only use each effect of Aromage Marigold once per turn.

**Golden Winds Normal Spell  
**Special Summon an 'Aroma' Link Monster that is in the graveyard or is removed from play, then draw cards equal to that Link Monster's Link Rating. You can only activate one Golden Winds per turn.

**Vampire Servant LVL 7 Zombie/Effect ATK/DEF 2500/1000 DARK**  
You can Tribute Summon this card with 1 Tribute, but its attack becomes 2000. This card cannot be used for an Xyz Summon, except for the summon of a Zombie monster.

**Dracula, The Demonic Vampire Rank 7 Zombie/Xyz/Effect ATK/DEF 2700/2000 DARK**  
2 Level 7 Zombie Monsters  
You can detach one Xyz Material to activate one of the following effects:  
● Make your opponent send one card(Monster, Spell or Trap) type of your choice, then you can send one Zombie Monster from your Deck to the graveyard, and if you do, destroy one card your opponent controls.  
● You can Special Summon one Zombie monster from your graveyard in Defence position.  
You can only use each effect of Dracula, The Demonic Vampire once per turn.

**Vampire Fredrick LVL 5 Zombie/Effect ATK/DEF 500/2100 DARK  
**For an Xyz Summon you can treat this card as Level 7. When a Zombie Monster you control declares a direct attack, you can pay LP in muliples of 100 to increase the attacking monster's attack by the amount you paid. You can only use this effect once per turn.

* * *

**I think I got all of them, in case I didn't PM me and I'll add the remaining cards. As always Review and PM me for suggestions, criticisms or just to chat. See you all next time(Probably a few weeks later). ^^**

**Regards**

**OmegaLordTheFirst**


	6. Academia Attacks! Reapers Run Rampant!

**Author's Note: So, hope everyone's been fine since the last chapter. Stay safe at home. Keep reading fanfiction and enjoy this chapter.**

**IMPORTANT: I do not know how much time the next chapter will take, so please be patient and bear with me. This chapter has duels involving both, Takeru and Playmaker, so hopefully that quells your thirst. See you at the end of the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 6

Academia Attacks! Reapers Run Rampant!

* * *

A familiar scent invaded his nose as Yusaku waited for his hot dog to be completed. Kusanagi always went the extra mile in completing his order. Takeru was beside him, having a light conversation with Jin. The younger Kusanagi brother had gotten over his past trauma. Having all his memories of the traumatising Lost Incident had certainly helped him greatly in that regard. There was a time when Yusaku had wished that he could forget that dreaded event, but forgetting would mean forgiving its perpetrators. And Yusaku could have never forgiven the souls who had allowed the Lost Incident to be carried out.

"Yusaku!" His link of thoughts was suddenly broken as his name was called out by Kusanagi. Eager to have his filling of breakfast, Yusaku quickly got up and walked over to the truck. Kusanagi was holding his breakfast of two hot dogs and a coffee in his two hands. Yusaku quickly plucked the items out of his arms and left the stand, making it available for the two people standing in line behind him. He sat back down at his seat and took out the items, enjoying the smell of his freshly made food.

"**Whoa! Look at you go, I never thought you could do something other than dueling with this much excitement.**" Ai poked fun at Yusaku, which he ignored, while Takeru snickered from the side.

Takeru suddenly turned to look at Yusaku and asked, "So.. what are we going to do now?" His voice was uncertain, as if he had been deliberating whether to ask the question or not.

"We?" Yusaku questioned back, an eyebrow raising while he voiced out his question. Takeru rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly, and laughed it off while replying to his question.

"Well.. I don't really have anything to do today. So, I thought we could hang out for a bit. That is what friends are for." The reply made Yusaku look down at the table while contemplating his own response. His food had been consumed long ago, and only an empty mug and wrappers were left to show that there had food on the table in the first place. He got up and looked down, where Takeru was still seated.

"I have to go to Yuna's place. It's a card shop, if you want, you can come with me.." Yusaku deliberately worded his statement to leave the choice to Takeru.

Hearing his question, Takeru's ears perked up and he excitedly answered, "Yes! Come on then, what are we waiting for?" He got up and a fiery excitement burned in his eyes, reminiscent to that of his virtual avatar. Following Takeru's actions, turned around and started walking.

They exited the commercial sector, and entered the residential one. Yusaku didn't need a map this time, he had more or less memorized the path. Directions were something he had always been good at since his childhood. Turning a corner, he saw two teenagers, probably the same age as him, following the both of them. He was sure about the fact that they were either following him or Takeru since he saw them at Cafe Nagi.

He leaned to the side and whispered to Takeru, "There are two people following us."

Takeru's eyes widened as he turned around, and just as Yusaku predicted, two shadows ducked out of sight into a diverging lane. Never one to back down, Takeru shouted out, "Who's there? Why are you following us?"

There was a moment of silence where the two teenage duelists were unsure whether the strangers would come out, but after a few moments they heard snickering as two people exited the shadows and revealed their faces. Neither Yusaku nor Takeru could recognise the duo that had revealed themselves.

"You guys are so careless. Did you really think that we wouldn't scout out the competition? Especially when you guys duel in broad daylight." The first stranger spoke up as he stepped forward. The first one had black hair and was wearing a yellow blazer, and wore black jeans to complete the look.

His accomplice, who had light brown hair but wore the same yellow and black attire, also stepped forward while holding up his arm to reveal a duel disk. "If you think we'll let you walk away now, you're dead wrong. We'll duel the two of you and reveal your decks' each and every secret if its the last thing we do." He cockily spoke up. "We've already figured out your deck, and there's no point in reading that pathetic deck of that loser you dueled against."

'_They must be talking about Naoki's deck. So they watched Takeru's duel.._' Yusaku thought, and he had no doubt that Takeru was also thinking the same thing. They seemed to be pretty adamant about dueling Takeru and him. He was about to activate his duel disk, but Takeru stepped in front of him making him stop.

"So you are participating in the Inter High Dueling Championship as well?" He asked in a tone that was different from his usual one, not that the two suspicious teens noticed.

"Hmph. Like we'll tell you. All we have to do is figure out your decks and tell the higher ups about it. So stop with the chit-chat and duel us already." The first pursuer held up his hand and activated his duel disk.

"Yusaku. I have a request." Said Takeru, and then continued. "I'll deal with them alone. They have already seen my deck, so we shouldn't give them an even bigger advantage by revealing your deck as well." There was an anger blazing inside him that he had to let out on someone. Whether it was because they had insulted Naoki's deck, or because they were using underhanded tactics, Takeru didn't know.

Yusaku took this into consideration and replied, "Can you handle them?" He didn't doubt Takeru's skills, but he still asked the question anyway, just to confirm it.

Takeru gave a confident grin and turned back to face his opponents before replying, "Don't worry about it. This'll be good practice for me." He raised his duel disk as it lit up.

"You really think you can take both of us? We'll put you in your place, and then deal with your friend there." His opponent said angrily as he also got ready.

"Duel!" All three of them shouted and the 1 vs 2 battle started.

**Homura Takeru vs Unknown Duelists**

**Takeru: 4000**

**Unknown Duelists: 4000**

"I'll start off the first turn by Summoning Ancient Gear Hunting Hound! When this card is Normal Summoned, you take 600 points of damage! Hound Howl!" The first opponent, the black haired one, started off his turn while summoning a monster and inflicting damage at the same time.

**Ancient Gear Hunting Hound LVL 3 Machine/Effect ATK/DEF 1000/1000 EARTH**

**Takeru: 4000-600➡****3400**

Takeru stepped back a bit as he took the shot fired off by his challenger's monster. "Ancient Gear?" Takeru looked at his hand while making up his strategy against his pursuer.

"Be careful. They don't let you activate effects until the end of the damage step, and drop your life with high attack points." Yusaku warned, after seeing his duel disk, where Ai had pulled up lots of Ancient Gear cards.

"Oh? Thanks for the heads up, but I'll be fine." A fire burnt in Takeru's eyes reminiscent of the one which had only been seen in his VRAINS counterpart.

The two duelists opposite to him snickered in union, "You really think you can beat us alone? With your _friend _over there you _might_ have stood a chance, but alone? Forget about it. I'll activate the Field Spell **Geartown**, then I'll play this **Double Summon**. Due to Geartown's effect, I can Normal Summon an Ancient Gear Monster with one less tribute than it would normally require and with Double Summon's effect I can perform another Normal Summon this turn."

Their surrounding area was covered with darkness and the sound of creaking gears was heard in the background while Takeru looked around as an uneasy feeling swelled in his chest. "I'll Summon the Level 6 Ancient Gear Beast without tributing with the effect of Geartown!" A bigger and stronger monster than the previous one appeared on the field, growling as if it was ready to chew off Takeru's head.

**Ancient Gear Beast LVL 6 Machine/Effect ATK/DEF 2000/2000 EARTH**

"I'll set one card to end my turn." One card materialised on the field face down as the black haired duelist ended his turn. His partner took a look at his field and smirked as if happy with the result.

"My turn. I draw!" Takeru took the new card and added it to the rest of his hand and picked up another card from his hand. "I'll Summon Phoenix Knight from my hand. Then I'll activate the Equip Spell **Lightning Blade**, and equip it to Phoenix Knight to raise its attack by 800. I'll also activate another Equip Spell **Phoenix Gearboos**t from my hand." A humanoid monster covered with fiery red armor materialised on Takeru's field and his sword crackled with electricity as its attack rose, and it also gained a fiery cape due to Phoenix Gearboost.

**Phoenix Knight LVL 3 Warrior/Effect ATK/DEF 1400****➡2200****/1000 FIRE**

"He got a monster with higher attack! But you can only destroy one of my monsters, and my life points will still survive." The black haired duelist started reassuring himself.

Takeru smirked, declaring, "Battle! Phoenix Knight attacks Ancient Gear Hunting Hound! But if Phoenix Knight battles a monster with 1000 or lower attack, all battle damage is halved." Takeru's monster jumped forward and slashed the mechanical hound to pieces as the two duelists were pushed back a bit.

**Unknown Duelists: 4000-600****➡3****400**

"So what? You destroyed a weak monster and barely dealt any damage. We have the same life points now and we haven't even attacked once yet!" It was the brown haired duelist who bragged this time as he explained the situation to Takeru. He had a cocky smirk on his face which was wiped off as soon as Takeru declared his next move.

"Are you sure?" Takeru asked while raising his hand. "Phoenix Gearboost's effect! When the equipped monster destroys a monster by battle, I can send this card to the graveyard and allow the monster to attack again!" Phoenix Knight tossed off the cape as it readied its blade again and sliced through Ancient Gear Beast in one clean stroke.

**Unknown Duelists: 3400-200****➡3****200**

The brown haired duelist growled out as he saw the state of their field. Beaten and empty. "You'll pay for that! You must think that because you've emptied our field, your chances of winning have gone up, but they're still zero."

Takeru listened to this rant calmly, "I set one card and end my turn."

"Hmph! Now I'll show you why Academia students are the best at dueling." The duelist drew one card and let it be displayed in front of him with his entire hand. "I will activate the Continuous Spell **Ancient Gear Castle**, then I will Summon Ancient Gear Beast without any tributes due to Geartown's effect. And Ancient Gear Castle will gain 1 counter every time a monster is Normal Summoned. It also increases my Ancient Gear's attack points by 300. Then I'll set this Field Spell from my hand, replacing the old one."

**Ancient Gear Beast 2000****➡2****300**

"Why would you do that? It would be better to just activate it." Questioned Takeru in a confused tone.

Hearing his question and subsequent explanation, Takeru''s opponents started chuckling loudly, "Oh, did I forget to mention? When Geartown is destroyed, I can Special Summon an Ancient Gear Monster from my hand, deck or graveyard. Say hello to Ancient Gear Golem!"

**Ancient Gear Golem LVL 8 Machine/Effect ATK/DEF 3000****➡3****300****/3000 EARTH**

"3000 attack points straight from the deck?! That's crazy!" Takeru's eyes had widened in shock, but steeling his nerves he flipped over his card. "Trap activate! **Guard of Fire**! This card prevents my FIRE monsters from being destroyed by battle, but they lose 500 attack points after damage calculation. And I also activate Phoenix Knight's effect! I can send it to the graveyard to Special Summon a FIRE Warrior from my hand. Come, Phoenix Gearfried!"

**Phoenix Gearfried LVL 8 Warrior/Gemini/Effect ATK/DEF 2800/2200 FIRE**

The duelist who had taken the first turn whistled at the sight of the new monster. "I would say I'm impressed.. but Ancient Gear Golem has higher attack points." He taunted Takeru, who gritted his teeth in frustration but said nothing.

"I'll activate the set **Ancient Gear Drill** to discard Ancient Gear Box from my hand and set Ancient Gear Explosive from my deck, but I cannot activate it this turn. I'll also activate my Equip Spell **Ancient Gear Tank**, this will increase Ancient Gear Golem's attack by another 600. Now let's battle! Ancient Gear Golem! Pulverize that monster!"

**Ancient Gear Golem 3300****➡3****900**

**Takeru: 3400-1100****➡2****300**

**Phoenix Gearfried 2800****➡2****300**

Takeru felt the shockwaves of Ancient Gear Golem's punch even though Phoenix Gearfried managed to lessen most of it. He gritted his teeth and managed to not give into the pressure of the attack.

"Oh? So you survived that? Well, you'll be finished off on the next turn anyways." The duelist set one card as he declared, "Turn End"

Takeru hardened his resolve as he shouted, "We'll see about that. My turn! I draw!" Before he could start off his turn he was interrupted by his adversary's set card.

"I activate this trap! **Metaverse**! With it, I can add Geartown straight to my hand!" Takeru's opponent smirked while adding the card to his hand with a dramatic flourish. 'Now my field is complete. I have Ancient Gear Golem and Beast with 3900 and 2000 attack points. Moreover, I have Ancient Gear Explosive set on the field which will deal damage equal to half my monster's attack points. Next turn it will all be over.' He cackled mentally, relishing Takeru's future demise.

"I'll blow you all away this turn!" Takeru declared fiercely making both of his challengers step back from his aggressiveness. "I activate **Tempest of Fire**! This card will destroy the FIRE Monster on my field with the lowest attack and deal damage equal to its attack to both players!" His foes looked shocked for a moment before they regained their composure.

"You almost had me worried there for a second. Your Phoenix Gearfried has 2300 attack, and you also have 2300 life points. Which means you just eliminated yourself!" He said with glee, seeming happy that they had won so easily.

"Are you sure?" Takeru questioned back and the duelists opposite to him looked on the field in confusion, not knowing what he meant. "Guard of Fire's additional effect! I take no effect damage while this card is on the field."

"What?!" They remarked in unison as Phoenix Gearfried exploded in a ball of fire, leaving Takeru untouched and blowing the duo back.

**Unknown Duelists: 3200-2300****➡9****00**

"That might have reduced our life points to 900, but your field is now empty, and Ancient Gear Golem will end you next turn!" The brown haired duelist retorted angrily. His voice had been reduced to a growl as he got up and dusted off his uniform.

"That turn will never arrive! Tempest of Fire's additional effect destroys a monster on your field with attack equal to or lower than my destroyed monster's attack and deals you damage equal to half its attack points. I destroy your Ancient Gear Beast!" Takeru declared as Ancient Gear Beast exploded and flung back the two recovering duelists.

**Unknown Duelists: 900-1150****➡0**

**Winner: Takeru**

"Damnit! How could we lose like that?!" The black haired duelist asked while gritting his teeth and slowly getting back on his feet. "Come on! Let's get out of here, we got what we came for." He told his partner, as he helped him up and they turned around and scrambled.

Takeru's 'Wait!' went ignored as the two duelists ran off into the adjoining lanes and disappeared. He sighed and turned around, seeing Yusaku with the same aloof look he always had. "Come on, let's go."

Yusaku nodded once to show his agreement and turned around and started walking. Takeru gave one last glance in the direction in which their unknown competitors had run off in, and started walking.

* * *

Takeru looked at the door through which Yusaku had just walked through. The shop didn't look that impressive from the outside. Even in his limited time in Den City, he had seen much larger and grander shops for Duel Monsters. It was only after he stepped inside that he realized why Yusaku had praised the shop so much. There was a certain air to it that made you feel at ease and want to play there.

"Wow.." Takeru's eyes glossed over the various shelves filled with cards. He knelt down and saw a game mat depicting the ever famous Dark Magician, posing with his staff. "So this is where you have been spending your time. You should have invited me sooner, this place is so cool!" He stood up and saw that some of the customers were giving him looks, so he got up and rubbed his neck embarrassingly.

"Takeru-san! Nii-san!" Yuna's voice was heard from behind them, and Yusaku immediately put up a hand to stop the catastrophic collision which would have followed. Luckily Yuna got the hint and stopped before the impact, instead choosing to smile brightly. "What took you so long? I was afraid you wouldn't come.." She asked, wanting to know about their whereabouts.

"**We got held up by two weird guys with matching yellow jackets.**" Ai whispered while explaining the situation. "**They seemed to be competing in the IHSDC..**"

Yuna's eyes widened slightly, "Yellow jackets?!" She abruptly lowered her voice after shouting suddenly, "Follow me. I might know about them. Though I should hope I'm wrong.." She turned around and walked to the stairs and climbed up to her room. Yusaku and Takeru followed suit, while the latter had an uneasy look on his face.

When they got up, Yuna was already at her computer, opening up some unknown page on the web. Yusaku peeked over her shoulder while watching the shifting pictures going through the screen. Yuna suddenly stopped shifting and enlarged one image, "Is this the one?"

Takeru looked at the picture as his eyes widened, "Yeah! That's the same jacket!" His face suddenly distorted in confusion, "What's Duel Academy?"

It was Ai who responded this time, though he failed to contain the glee in his voice as he explained something Yusaku and Takeru didn't know. "** Duel Academy. It is a dedicated school that trains Duelists to a Pro level, so they can ideally enter the Pro League. Their students have won the majority of the Duel Monsters Tournaments that they have entered into.**" He whistled while continuing, clearly impressed. "**Their main building is on their own island! The students are categorised into three different tiers: Slifer Red, Ra Yellow and Obelisk Blue, from worst to best.**"

"That's a weird naming scheme.." Takeru commented as he shifted a hand through his hair. "I'm guessing that the ones who I duelled against were from Ra Yellow? Considering the yellow color scheme..."

"Yes. Though why would Duel Academy be interested in a, no offence, small time Duel Club such as yours, which is participating in the IHSDC for the first time?" Yuna asked while holding her chin with two fingers.

"None taken.." Yusaku murmured while thinking about her question. "Could it be _because_ we are participating for the first time?"

"But why should that.. Ohh!" Takeru's face showed realisation as he connected the dots. "They are scouting us out because they don't know about us!"

Yusaku shook his head in the affirmative, "This is even more troublesome for us. We can't let our identities or decks slip out while we are dueling in this world."

Takeru seemed concerned for a second but shook his head while ridding his troublesome thoughts. Yuna caught the look but didn't question it at that time instead turning to face the blue haired teen. "I would tell you to be worried, but you're Playmaker, so you should be fine. Though, if you want, I would happily beat them down for you!" She held respect in her tone as she said it, and grasped her fist in her left hand as she said it.

Yusaku shook his head from side to side, "No, Playmaker only exists in the virtual world. My identity would lead many people to me in search of Ai. That is a risk I cannot take."

Ai's eyes watered as he tried to contain his tears, "**Yusaku-chan.. I didn't know you cared so much. I love you too!**" He declared while letting out a stream of tears. Takeru and Yuna immediately burst out laughing while Yusaku put a hand to his head in resignation.

"Shut up, Ai.." His reply only seemed to deepen his hole, as Takeru and Yuna laughed even harder.

"**Hey, Yusaku! I think this is important! Kusanagi just sent a live feed of VRAINS to your duel disk..**" Ai suddenly cut in, while his eyes were focused elsewhere, most likely checking the message that had just been received.

Yusaku's eyes widened as he quickly opened the disk and played the feed. Takeru and Yuna crowded around him to watch the video. After a second, the video started showing a view of LINK VRAINS. The video was of a street and multiple people were dueling, though it became obvious that one side was quickly dominating the other as all the duelists of one side were flung back as their life points hit 0.

The victors were all wearing black robes that covered their bodies from below the neck and black helmets that resembled crows. One of them stepped up while declaring, "Is this the best that LINK VRAINS has to offer? We were at least expecting someone to last a turn against us, The Reapers." His mockery was clearly riling up the crowd. Their monsters shot off a few stray blasts which hit the street covering them with smoke. Luckily the feed they were watching was of someone perched on a building, with a complete view of the situation.

"Enough watching, let's go." Yusaku declared abruptly, shocking Yuna and Takeru, though they quickly got clear of it and agreed.

"I've always wanted to fight bad guys!"

"I'll burn 'em to crisps!"

Together, the three held up their duel disks and their voices resounded in sync, "Into the VRAINS!"

* * *

If someone had to describe the situation in LINK VRAINS in one word, it would be 'bad'.

The main hub had already suffered noticeable damage, and many duelists had been beaten and thrown out of the server. The reason of all this chaos was the group which had named themselves to be, The Reapers. Some people had already logged out, while others had stayed behind just to film the whole thing. The motive of the latter being either fame or stupidity.

Regardless of whatever the innocent victims were doing, the fault lied with the ones who were causing this mess in the first place. These were the thoughts that went through Playmaker's mind as he surveyed the situation from his D-Board. Sharply angling it downwards he rushed to the location from where the feed was being taken from. He eyed a couple of duelists on rooftops who were recording the situation while letting other people suffer. Burying his anger, he slowed his descent and jumped off his board as it vanished into data.

The Reapers didn't look disappointed at his arrival, in fact by the way they stood, it looked like they were confident in their victory. Before he could engage his enemies in a duel, Soulburner and Lifemage landed beside him.

"Playmaker! You shouldn't rush off by yourself!" Soulburner cracked his knuckles as he glanced at the cloaked figures standing not too far away. "So, these are the low lives that have been causing trouble in LINK VRAINS?"

Lifemage walked up to their side while grinning, "Looks like it. I'll beat them down so bad they won't want to pick up a duel disk after this."

One of the cloaked anarchists stepped up in front of his peers. He was different than his partners in the sense that he had a silver star badge on his cloak, while the others had plain black ones. "If it isn't the heroes of VRAINS, Playmaker and Soulburner. And who are you supposed to be, another one of these _heroes_?" He directed his question while sneering at the only female among the trio.

Lifemage didn't flinch back at all, considering this was the first time she was doing this. Instead, she stepped forward fiercely to match her foe, "My name is Lifemage. Remember it, because it's the last thing you will before I'm through with you."

The Reaper head cackled while throwing back his head, "She's got spunk. We'll be sure to beat it out of her. Won't we?" He tilted his head forward and the rest of the goons came forward and surrounded them. "How exactly do you plan to beat us? We outnumber you five-to-three-"

"No, they aren't!" A voice from above cut off his speech. Two figures jumped down from their D-Boards, revealing themselves to be a male and female. Both of them had a long white coat which stretched from their neck to their ankles. The male mostly had dark blue hair, with light blue bangs on the side, while the female had red hair with orange bangs mixed in occasionally. Their faces were partially concealed due to a metallic mask with a red glass covering their left eyes.

"**Baira! Faust! What are the Knights of Hanoi doing here?**" Ai revealed himself from his hiding place inside Playmaker's duel disk. The two Hanoi members looked shocked for briefly, after which they curbed it in while schooling their expressions.

"The Dark Ignis?! So you survived?" Faust voiced out his question but didn't give any time to respond to it. "Revolver-sama was correct after all.. Though that will have to wait for _after_ we take care of the problem at hand." He directed his gaze at the group of cloaked people who had been causing havoc on the server.

"The Knights of Hanoi have dedicated themselves to fight off scum like you who disrupt the peace of the network!" Baira stepped up while facing the head of the Reapers. "Let's finish this quickly." She declared while raising her duel disk.

The leader smirked at her grandiose speech. "Like we'll believe those fake speeches. Let's just get this show on the road. Leave Playmaker to me! I'll get that Dark Ignis for myself. I'll have you know that unlike the rest of these rookies, I have been promoted to the rank of Silver Admin for a reason."

The four unnamed duelists quickly surrounded the area and started duels with Soulburner, Lifemage, Faust and Baira. The leader held up his duel disk while Playmaker held up his own.

"Duel!"

**Playmaker Vs Silver Admin**

**Playmaker: 4000**

**Silver Admin: 4000**

Playmaker saw his hand and then looked at the duel disk, which was showing a message from Kusanagi where Ai was supposed to be housed. He read through the message and nodded imperceptibly. "My turn! I Summon Draconnet, and with its effect I Special Summon Digitron from my deck!" Playmaker started of the duel while summoning his low level Cyberses and swarming the field.

**Draconnet LVL 3 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 1400/1200 DARK**

**Digitron LVL 2 Cyberse/Normal ATK/DEF 1500/0 EARTH**

"Appear! The circuit that leads to the future! The summoning condition is 1 Normal Monster. I set Digitron in the Link Markers. Link Summon! LINK-1 Link Spider!" He raised his hands as the square appeared in the space above him and Digitron flew into the circuit, which led to a spider like robot descending from it. "Link Spider's effect activates! I Special Summon a Normal Monster from my hand. Come, Protron!"

**Link Spider LINK-1 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 1000 EARTH**

**Protron LVL 1 Cyberse/Normal ATK/DEF 100/100 EARTH**

"Yes, yes. We all know what's coming next. You're going to use your monsters to Link Summon." Silver Admin drawled out with a fake yawn, taunting Playmaker.

"**That punk! He's getting cocky. Let's show him, Playmaker!**" Ai declared while waving his small hands angrily, thinking he was being intimidating.

Playmaker didn't reply, instead pointing his hand upwards. "Appear! The circuit that leads to the future! The summoning condition is 1 Level 1 Monster! I set Protron in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-1 Linkuriboh!" The small roundish monster appeared with a cute 'Kuri', which probably melted hearts around the world. Without missing a beat, Playmaker shouted again, "Appear again! The circuit that leads to the future! Arrowheads confirmed! The summoning conditions are 2 Effect Monsters! I set Draconnet, Link Spider and Linkuriboh in the Link Markers! Circuit combine! Link Summon! LINK-3 Decode Talker!"

**Linkuriboh LINK-1 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 300 DARK**

**Decode Talker LINK-3 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 2300 DARK**

"**Yes! Decode Talker's already here!**" Ai celebrated with a victory pose. "**You should quit right now, since Decode Talker's the monster that will defeat you.**" Ai taunted the Admin this time, eliciting a chuckle from him.

"Hmph! I'll wipe out that monster on my first turn! And with it, your life points will follow!" He challenged back, confident in his victory.

Playmaker looked at his field and hand, before declaring, "I set two cards, and end my turn."

The Admin's grin proved that he was not worried about being defeated by Decode Talker. "I'll wipe you out this turn! I draw! First, I'll Summon Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire! And due to it's effect, I can Special Summon Bravo, Fighter Fur Hire. Now, Donpa's effect will activate since I Special Summoned another 'Fur Hire' and destroy your _great_ Decode Talker!" He joyously shouted as his monster shot off a blast towards Decode Talker.

**Donpa, Marksman Fur Hire LVL 2 Beast/Effect ATK/DEF 500/1000 WIND**

**Bravo, Fighter Fur Hire LVL 4 Reptile/Effect ATK/DEF 1900/200 FIRE**

"**No! If Decode Talker is destroyed, our field will be wide open!**" Ai panicked while flailing his arms around.

"Shut up. I activate the Counter Trap, **Cynet Conflict**! Since there is a 'Code Talker' Monster on the field, your Effect is negated, and the card is banished!" Playmaker countered as Decode Talker blocked Donpa's shot and sliced apart the monster.

Admin gritted his teeth in frustration, but quickly recovered from his monster's loss. "I'll Special Summon Helmer, Helmsman Fur Hire due to Bravo's effect. And with Helmer's effect, I can Special Summon Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire!" He quickly called out two more monsters 'Fur Hire' filling up his field.

**Helmer, Helmsman Fur Hire LVL 3 Aqua/Effect ATK/DEF 0/2000 WATER**

**Beat, Bladesman Fur Hire LVL 3 Warrior/Effect ATK/DEF 1200/500 EARTH**

"Now, with Beat's effect I can Special Summon this card! Dyna, Hero Fur Hire! And summoning it activates Beat's effect with which I can add Rafale, Champion Fur Hire to my hand! Dyna's own effect will also activate and banish cards from your graveyard up to the Monsters 'Fur Hire' I control. I control 5 of them, and so, I banish Cynet Conflict, Digitron, Protron, Draconnet and Link Spider from your graveyard!" Admin filled up his entire field with monsters, and so, he was forced to summon Dyna to the zone that Decode Talker points towards which Playmaker instantly pointed out.

**Dyna, Hero Fur Hire LVL 6 Beast-Warrior/Effect ATK/DEF 2500/1400 EARTH**

"Since Decode Talker points towards a monster it gains 500 attack. Power Integration!" Playmaker declared the effect with a wave of his hand, as Decode Talker raised its sword, growing in power.

**Decode Talker 2300****➡2800**

To his credit, Silver Admin didn't look put out by the fact that Decode Talker was stronger than any of his monsters due to his own actions. "You recycle materials from your graveyard don't you? But what will you do now that all those precious resources are gone? I'm just getting started with my turn, I'll crush your ace with everything I have. First, I'll activate the Field Spell **Fandora, The Flying Furtress**. With its effect, instead of conducting my normal I can add a Monster 'Fur Hire' from my deck to my hand." He chuckled a bit before continuing. "Now everything is set. Appear, the circuit that brings mayhem and destruction! The summoning conditions are 3 Monsters of different types. I set Dyna, Helmer and Beat in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-3 Folgo, Justice Fur Hire!"

**Folgo, Justice Fur Hire LINK-3 Beast/LINK/Effect ATK 2400 DARK**

**Decode Talker 2800****➡2300**

"**Ehh?! Decode Talker is weaker than his ace!**" Ai shouted in a panicked tone, fear seeping slightly out of his voice.

The feral grin under Silver Admin's bird mask grew bigger, seemingly enjoying the situation. "Now Folgo's effect will activate and Special Summon Sagitta, Maverick Fur Hire from my deck to a zone it points to in defense position. Moreover, Bravo's effect will increase the attack of all Monsters 'Fur Hire' on my field by 500, while at the same time Magitta will deal you 500 points of damage for every Monster 'Fur Hire' on my field."

**Folgo, Justice Fur Hire 2400➡****2900**

**Bravo, Fighter Fur Hire 1900****➡2400**

**Sagitta, Maverick Fur Hire 1200****➡1700**

**Playmaker: 4000-1500****➡2500**

Playmaker's eyes widened as he was blown back by the wind produced by Sagitta's wings. Still he managed to remain on his feet while gritting his teeth.

Silver Admin's smirk never faltered as he took a step forward while declaring, "Battle! Folgo, Justice Fur Hire attacks Decode Talker! Payback Judgment!"

**Playmaker: 2500-600****➡1900**

Folgo swung its sword at Decode Talker, and while Decode Talker tried to block, it pierced through his defense, and sliced him apart. Silver Admin smirked as his plan came to fruition. "Just as I predicted. Now that your monster was destroyed by battle, due to Folgo's effect I can draw 1 card, and also draw 2 additional cards if there are 3 different Monsters 'Fur Hire' on my field. There are Folgo, Bravo and Sagitta on my field, So I draw 3 cards!" He drew a single virtual cards and put his hand back at the duel disk to draw 2 more cards, replenishing his hand.

By this time, the four other duels that were taking place had just ended with Soulburner, Lifemage, Baira and Faust gaining victory over the members of Reapers. Now only Playmaker was the one left dueling.

Soulburner watched in worry as Yusaku's life points kept dropping while his opponent's life points were still untouched. "Playmaker shouldn't be struggling this much against someone so weak. What's going on?" Lifemage voiced out the question he had been wanting to ask, and while there was no reply, it worried him even more since he wasn't the only one who thought that Playmaker was struggling too much against some random member of a virtual terror group. 'Could it be that he's deliberately drawing out the duel..?'

He wasn't able to continue that line of thought as the Silver Admin declared a direct attack on Playmaker, and he turned his focus back to the duel just in time to see it continue.

"Bravo, Fighter Fur Hire attacks you directly! This is the end, Playmaker!" He triumphantly shouted as Bravo jumped towards Playmaker with the intent to cut down his life points.

"Trap activate, **Recoded Alive**! I banish Decode Talker from my graveyard and Special Summon Transcode Talker from my Extra Deck." Playmaker revealed his last face down card just in time, as Transcode was Summoned to the zone where Folgo pointed towards, co-linking them. "Transcode's effect raises its own attack and a mutually linked monster by 500!"

**Folgo, Justice Fur Hire 2900****➡3400**

**Transcode Talker LINK-3 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 2300****➡2800**** EARTH**

Bravo stopped its attack before colliding with the much larger Transcode Talker. The Admin growled in disappointment while setting cards face-down on his field. "I set three cards, and end my turn. Now Bravo's effect will end, dropping their attack points back to normal."

Playmaker said nothing while his unwavering gaze gave away none of his emotions. Ai, on the other hand, was panicking like there was no tomorrow.

"**What are you doing Playmaker-sama?**** Your life points have already fallen so much and only Transcode is left on the field! How do you plan on getting out of this situation?**" He asked while clutching his head in fear of what might happen if Playmaker was to lose the duel.

"Shut up, and pray." Was all Playmaker said before putting his fingers on top of his deck. "My turn! Draw!" Seeing the card he drew, Playmaker picked up the first card he had in his hand while slapping it on his duel disk. "When there's a Cyberse on the field, I can Special Summon Backup Secretary from my hand! Now, appear the circuit that leads to the future! The summoning condition is 1 Level 4 or lower Cyberse Monster! I set Backup Secretary in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-1 Link Disciple! Now that its Link Summoned, Parallel eXceed's effect activates and Special Summons itself, and then Special Summons another Parallel eXceed from my deck, but both of them have their levels become 4 and their attack and defense is halved."

**Link Disciple LINK-1 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 500 LIGHT**

**Parallel eXceed LVL8****➡4 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 2000****➡1000/2000****➡1000 WIND**

**Parallel eXceed LVL8****➡4 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 2000****➡1000/2000****➡1000 WIND**

"So? What's a bunch of more weak monsters going to do against Folgo and all my set cards?" Silver asked, amused by what he believed to be Playmaker's last ditch efforts to avoid defeat.

"I'm not done! Appear! The circuit that leads to the future! The Summoning Conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters! I set the two Parallel eXceed in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-2 Flame Administrator! Appear again, the circuit that leads to the future! Arrowheads confirmed! The Summoning conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters with different Attributes, I set Flame Administrator and Link Disciple in the Link Markers! Circuit combine! Link Summon! LINK-3 Decode Talker Heatsoul!"

**Decode Talker Heatsoul LINK-3 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 2300 FIRE**

"Decode Talker..." Soulburner murmured while looking at the monster which bore similarities to both Decode Talker and Salamangreat Heatleo.

"Heatsoul..? That's a new Code Talker!" Lifemage shouted excitedly after being initially confused by its name. "It looks so awesome!"

Silver Admin just growled at them getting excited for a weak monster that wasn't stronger than Folgo, "So what? Whether it's DARK or FIRE, it can't defeat Folgo." He cockily spoke as if explaining to a child.

"Decode Talker Heatsoul's effect! I pay 1000 life points, to draw one card!" Playmaker's suit glowed a bit as his life points dropped even further, and he drew a card.

**Playmaker: 1900****➡900**

"1000 life points just for a single card when you're life points are already that low? You must be planning to lose in this turn." Admin taunted even further, making Ai retaliate back with childish insults.

The yellow-pink haired duelist ignored the jab aimed at him and continued with his turn. "After using its Heatsoul's effect, if my life points are lower than 2000, then its banished, and I can Special Summon one LINK-3 or lower monster from my Extra Deck. I Special Summon LINK-3 Decode Talker Extended! I Summon Lady Debug, and activate her effect to add a Level 3 or lower Cyberse from my deck to my hand. I add Code Generator." Playmaker held up the card which he added to his hand, showing it to his opponent and the surrounding crowd. "Now, appear, the circuit that leads to the future! The Summoning Conditions are 2 Cyberse Monsters, I set Code Generator and Lady Debug in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-2 Code Talker!"

**Decode Talker Extended LINK-3 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 2300**

**Lady Debug LVL 4 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 1700/1400 LIGHT**

**Code Talker LINK-2 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 1300 DARK**

Admin's eyes narrowed beneath his mask, though it wasn't visible to anyone. "Using materials from the hand.. it's a neat trick but it won't save you."

"Who said I'm done? Code Generator's effect sends a Cyberse Monster with 1200 or lower attack from my deck to the graveyard, when it's used for the Summon of a 'Code Talker' Monster. I send Dotscaper, which Special Summons itself by its own effect.

**Dotscaper LVL 1 Cyberse/Effect ATK/DEF 0/2100 EARTH**

"Uhg! How long will you make these pointless moves for?" Admin said in anger and boredom. This turn was lasting for far too long with these pointless efforts to save himself.

"Appear, the circuit that leads to the future! The summoning conditions are 2+ Cyberse Monsters! I set LINK-2 Code Talker and Dotscaper in the Link Markers! Link Summon! LINK-3 Excode Talker! Then its effect activates, I can make unused Main Monsters on the field unusable up to the number of monsters in the Extra Monster Zones! I block those two zones! Grasp Zone!"

**Excode Talker LINK-3 Cyberse/LINK/Effect ATK 2300 WIND**

Excode Talker collected energy in its palms and fired off at the monster zones on Admin's field, making them unusable. "Furthermore, Transcode's effect activates! I can Special Summon one LINK-3 or lower monster from my graveyard to a zone it points to. I revive Flame Administrator! Flame Administrator's effect makes LINK Monsters on my field gain 800 attack points, and since its co-linked with Transcode, it gains 500 attack. Also, Decode Talker Extended gains 500 attack points for each monster it points towards. Power Integration!" Playmaker finished activating his effects as all his monsters grew stronger.

**Flame Administrator 1200****➡2000****➡2500**

**Transcode Talker 2800****➡3600**

**Excode Talker 2300****➡3100**

**Decode Talker Extended 2300****➡3100****➡4100**

"**Alright! With those attack points his life will be blown away instantly!**" Ai cheered while looking at the field swarmed with LINK Monsters which provided each other strength.

Playmaker observed his opponent's reaction, which didn't reveal much, and declared, "Battle! Flame Administrator attacks Sagitta, Maverick Fur Hire!" The attack landed as Flame Administrator chopped Sagitta into smithereens without any trouble. "Transcode Talker attacks Folgo, Justice Fur Hire! Trans Fault!"

"Useless! I activate the Trap Card, **Backlash Fur Hire**! When your monster with higher attack battles my monster during a turn another Monster 'Fur Hire' was destroyed, the battling Monster 'Fur Hire' gains 1500 attack points until the end of the Damage Step. Go, Folgo, Justice Fur Hire! Payback Judgement!" Folgo swiftly sidestepped and dodged the blast that Transcode had fired and charged forward swiftly, cutting it to pieces

**Folgo, Justice Fur Hire 2900****➡4400****➡2400**

**Playmaker: 900-800****➡100**

**Flame Administrator 2500****➡2000**

"Playmaker!" Soulburner and Lifemage both called out as Playmaker was sent flying back, and skidded to a stop after a few feet.

"**Ahh! We only have 100 life points! We are going to lose! I'll go pack my bags, since that guy is going to take me after all****.**" Ai said in a sad tone as he disappeared into the duel disk, leaving it empty.

Playmaker didn't stop his attacks even after losing Transcode Talker, instead choosing to continue his assault. "Decode Talker Extended attacks Folgo, Justice Fur Hire!"

Silver Admin again let off a smirk while activating his trap. "I activate the trap, **Bomb Fur Hire**! While you are attacking my Monster 'Fur Hire' another monster on the field is destroyed! I'll destroy Flame Administrator! The only downside is that I take double battle damage from this battle." He snickered even though his monster was sliced in half.

**Decode Talker Extended 4100****➡2800**

**Silver Admin: 4000-(400x2)****➡3200**

Playmaker, instead of looking worried like anyone else in his situation would, calmly continued the duel. "Since a Monster next to Decode Talker Extended was destroyed it can attack again this turn. Extended attacks Bravo, Fighter Fur Hire!"

**Silver Admin: 3200-900****➡2300**

Silver Admin was pushed back a bit by the explosion but managed to keep steady and instead settled for glaring through his mask. "You.. bastard!"

"His life points are 2300. Excode Talker has 2300 attack points. Its clear who has won the duel." Faust commented from the side.

"No, it isn't over yet... That last set card, it doesn't feel right." Soulburner threw back drawing their attention towards the face down and last card on Silver Admin's field.

Lifemage just smirked, "Come on! He's Playmaker! He won't lose to someone who dresses up like that." She joked about the ridiculous design of the clothes that the Reapers were wearing.

Soulburner cracked a smile, "Yeah, you're right."

"Excode Talker attacks you directly! Excode Close!" Excode Talker leaped through the air in a single leap and was above Silver Admin in an instant, ready to strike him down. The black helmet wearing duelist was yet to even flinch from the attack.

"You fell right into my trap, **Drowning Mirror Force**! Since you declared a direct attack, all Attack Position Monsters on your field are shuffled back into the deck!" He snickered as Excode Talker's attack was blocked by the aforementioned card, and a wave of water was unleashed, which swallowed the remaining monsters on Playmaker's field. "See that? That is the power of the card our leader gave us! You've lost Playm-"

"Are you sure?" Playmaker interrupted his tirade, making his foe stop and consider the situation.

"Of course I'm sure." He responded after checking the entire field. "You have no cards on your field and neither are there any cards present in your hand. How exactly do you plan to win?"

"With this, the Trap Card, **Recoded Alive**! I banish it from my graveyard to Special Summon a banished 'Code Talker'. I use its effect to return Decode Talker to my field." Playmaker activated the card with a wave of his hand as its hologram appeared on the field and disappeared to form a gateway through which Decode Talker rose from the ground while swinging his sword.

"WHAT?!" The black helmet wearing duelist seemed surprised for the first time in the duel as his grin faltered and was replaced with a fearful expression as he realized his situation.

Ai chuckled while pointing his finger at the Silver Admin, "**You finally realise the situation you are in. Didn't I say that Decode Talker was the one who would defeat you?**" Ai rubbed in the Admin's defeat in his face like one would rub salt over a wound. Silver Admin didn't retort back for the first time in the duel, him being at a loss of words.

Playmaker threw out his hand, as Decode Talker raised his sword with a glint in his eyes. "Decode Talker attacks you directly! Decode End!"

**Silver Admin: 2300-2300****➡0**

**Winner: Playmaker**

Silver Admin was thrown back as Decode Talker's sword hit him, after which he groggily started gettin back up. As soon as he looked up, he saw the forms of Playmaker, Soulburner, Lifemage, Baira and Faust surrounding him. He groaned while trying to get all of his senses back in order, but before he could, he heard a voice.

"Who are you? Why are you doing this in LINK VRAINS?" It was Playmaker who had asked the question, never one to waste time with useless chatter.

Despite the pain he must have been feeling, Silver Admin chuckled and growled, "Like I'll tell you. We only go against SOL Technologies for what they did to _us_. You might have defeated me here, but our boss won't be so easy to take down. If you mess with us, we'll remove you from the server _permanently_." With that his avatar fizzled out into data, symbolizing his log out from the system.

Playmaker turned around and suddenly remembered that there were two more people who had helped him by taking care of the chaos causing duelists. "What are you doing here?" This was obviously directed towards Faust and Baira.

"Shouldn't we be the ones to ask that question? To _him_?" Baira's gaze was directed to Yusaku's duel disk as she asked back. "I was under the assumption that you would have wiped him out of existence during your duel."

Faust also stepped up while adding to his comrade's argument. "Revolver was correct in not trusting you to finish the job. You allowed-"

"Who said I didn't finish the job? That I didn't wipe my partner out of existence?" Playmaker interjected in a raised voice. It was much more emotional than his normal tone. It made him seem _vulnerable_.

Faust glared back at him, his one red glass covered eye making him seem even more intimidating. "If you had, then he wouldn't be here, cracking jokes in the middle of a duel."

Before the argument could escalate, Lifemage's small voice stopped their raising aggression. "Uhm.. not to sound rude or anything.. but can anyone please explain what happened for everyone to be so angry?" Her confusion and ignorance broke the tension that both parties were having.

Baira eyed Ai with distrust before turning around, "Expect a visit from Revolver soon enough." With that, the two knights' avatar disappeared with the _log out_ sound.

Soulburner looked around and saw that people had already gotten over the situation and were slowly nearing their position. "I think we should get out of here." His words brought Playmaker's attention back to the situation at hand.

"Let's go." His avatar instantly vanished into data, and Soulburner and Lifemage followed suit.

* * *

Yuna opened her eyes, and instantly had to close them again due to the brightness of the room. Blinking a few times, she raised her head and saw both, Yusaku and Takeru, sitting on the floor. Takeru was looking at Yusaku in concern, whereas the blue haired duelist was looking down without saying a word.

She chose to break the silence. "Does somebody mind explaining what happened in there?" Yusaku and Takeru looked up at her, and then looked at each other, as if conemplating whether to tell her or not. "Come on! I won't tell anybody, promise." Her joke seemed to work as Yusaku sighed and turned to face her.

"Where do I start?"

* * *

It took them about an hour to explain everything that had happened to lead up to the current situation. The Lost Incident, the making of the Ignis, Playmaker's birth, the Tower of Hanoi, Lightning's plan involving Bohman and the Ignis' deaths which lead to Ai's rebellion against humanity. Yuna had sat down in that time, her legs being unable to take the weight of their conversation.

"You revolted against humanity?" Yuna asked, and seeing Ai avoid her gaze confirmed it. "I understand that you did it because of your friends, the Ignis, but isn't going against all of humanity a bit extreme?"

Ai laughed it off, "**Well, yeah. I didn't really think clearly at the** **time.**" His voice grew serious all of a sudden. "**I was angry. Angry at SOL Technologies for destroying Earth, angry at Lightning for corrupting Windy, angry at Bohman for absorbing Aqua and Flame. And I was also angry at myself for not being able to save them all.**"

Takeru had stayed uncharacteristically quiet throughout the conversation, their topic of discussion having probably brought back his memories of Flame. He sat with clenched fists while looking down. "For what its worth, I don't blame you." His response seemed to have shocked both Yusaku and his dueling partner. Ai started to say something, probably to ask _why_, but Takeru kept speaking. "It was horrible when I lost Flame, I just wanted to destroy Bohman and Lightning.. For you, someone who considered all the Ignis his friends, I cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like for you."

"Takeru.." Yusaku muttered, not having realized that Takeru was suffering just as much as he had.

"**Ahh! Why are we getting depressed over something that happened so long ago?**" Ai jumped back into the conversation, trying to lighten the mood. "**Besides, don't you guys want to know about 'The Reapers'?**" His distraction seemed to work as Takeru and Yuna's eyes widened in shock.

"But we didn't find out anything! They logged out without answering our questions.." Yuna muttered. "Unless.."

"Yeah, I had Kusanagi track their log in location. It would take some time, so I had to delay the duel longer than usual." Yusaku cleared up the situation.

Takeru's eyes widened in understanding, "Oh! So that's why you seemed to be struggling! You almost had me worried there for a second, you know?" He laughed near the end, relieved that he hadn't needed to be worried.

"So? What did your friend find out?" Yuna steered the conversation back to the topic at hand.

"Let's go and find out." Yusaku said while getting up from his seated position. "Kusanagi is probably waiting for us."

Yuna excitedly stood up while picking up a blue jacket for herself off her chair, "We're going to your secret lair?!" Her voice was filled with the type of excitement that kids get when they are going to a Duel Monsters store.

Takeru snickered at the thought of someone describing Café Nagi as a secret lair. Yusaku rolled his eyes while exiting the room, after which Takeru and Yuna followed at their leisurely pace.

Yusaku walked down the stairs to see that the crowd in the store had thinned substantially from before. Yuna bounded down the stairs, and jogged to her grandfather's desk. "Grandpa! I'm going out for a bit!"

The aforementioned Suzukui Himura looked up for a second from his book, "Oh! Yusaku-kun! How are you? And who is your friend?" He asked with a jovial smile, making Yuna pout at her being ignored.

Yusaku gave a light bow while addressing the elder, "I'm fine, Suzuki-san. This is my.. friend, Homura Takeru. I was heading out for some work, and Yuna decided to tag along." He looked at the person he was addressing while he was making introductions, only stopping for a brief moment before introducing Himura to Takeru.

"Am I extra baggage to you?!" Yuna asked in incredulousness, and Ai's muffled laughter only provided wood for her burning anger.

Himura also chuckled while turning back to his book. "Be sure to come back by lunchtime." Was all he said before the trio of duelists nodded and stepped out of the store. The chilling winds didn't irritate Yuna and Takeru much, but Yusaku shivered a bit, even though he said nothing about his discomfort.

The walk from Yuna's home to Café Nagi and vice versa was becoming progressively quicker in each attempt. This time it didn't take much time to reach Den Plaza, the most active place within the city.

"The plaza? But this is a place where so many people visit, how can you hide something here?" Yuna asked, not believing that their _secret lair_ was present here. "Why would you even want to hide here?"

Without missing a beat in his steps, Yusaku replied, "Crowds provide invisibility. This is the most crowded place in Den City, and so no one will think about something hiding in plain sight." His reason was extremely logical, and it was true. "Moreover, any happenings in VRAINS are broadcasted on those screens, so its easy to know about its happenings even while I'm not logged in."

Yuna looked at Yusaku in awe, then suddenly snapping out of it while looking at the direction they were heading in. "Wait a minute.. the only thing here is...! Don't tell me that your-" Her realisation was interrupted by Takeru.

"That our 'secret base' is a hot dog truck? It is." Takeru laughed at her expression while giving her the answer she was dreading to hear. "Come on let's head in." He opened the door to the back of the truck, and headed inside, while Yuna followed him, and Yusaku closed the door after coming inside last. Instantly, he felt better as the cooking station where Kusanagi was working, was radiating warmth.

"Yusaku! You came.. and brought someone else with you?" He started in an excited tone, but it lowered into confusion at the end of it.

"Hello! I'm Suzuki Yuna! Nice to meet you!" She said with a slight bow, even while Kusanagi was waving it off.

Kusanagi looked at Yusaku in an almost suspicious way. "Same. I'm Kusanagi Shoichi, and that guy serving the food is my brother Jin. How did you even make friends with such a cheerful person?" His tone was filled with curiosity, while he poured sauce over the remaining food that was on the stove.

Yusaku sighed while rolling his eyes, "Just tell us what you found, Kusanagi-san." And following his answer Kusanagi gave an embarassed grin, like he had made some mistake.

He laughed a bit, and then said, "Well... about that. Right now its peak hour, and I don't want to close up shop right now, I still need money to live you know. Can I show it to you in about an hour or so?" He pleaded, hoping that Yusaku would accept.

Yusaku sighed, "It's alright, Kusanagi-san. I understand, I'll be back after rush hour is over."

Takeru sighed, "Man.. I was looking forward to finding out something about them. Anyhow, I have to go. My friend's train is set to arrive in Den City in about half an hour, I have to go." He grinned while opening the door, and closing it behind him.

Yusaku wondered who else Takeru considered a friend, and realized that he didn't really know much about his accomplice's life. It made a weird feeling swell up in his chest, that same feeling that he had experienced when he realized that his savior from the Lost Incident never escaped, _sadness_. He thought he would have become accustomed to it by now, but it still hurt just as much as it did previously.

"Nii-san? Are you okay?" Yuna's voice broke his descent into sadness, and he snapped towards her direction to see that both Kusanagi and Yuna were staring at him worriedly.

"I'm fine, let's go." He took a step back, turned and then opened the door, instantly regretting it as the chilly wind blasted him again, making him shiver. He ignored the pain and stepped out. Yuna jumped down after waving at Kusanagi, and closed the door.

"So? Where to now?" She asked while looking around at the plaza. The flashing lights, fancy shops, big screens and hordes of people everywhere certainly took away attention from a small truck in the middle of the plaza. SOL Technologies' building could still be seen from her though, rising above its neighboring skyscrapers.

Yusaku observed the crowd of people moving around him without batting an eye. "To get you a new deck."

* * *

**And done! My first chapter over 10,000 words. Consider it an apology for being gone for so long. Double duels involving Takeru and Playmaker, hope you all liked it! **

**How was the 'Decode End!' to finish the duel? Ai commented at the start that Decode Talker would beat him, and it did. Nice foreshadowing? You tell me.**

**Different parties are coming into play now. Duel Academy and Reapers. Real life and virtual world. Yusaku/Playmaker will have to juggle with both worlds now.**

**Yuna/Lifemage will be getting a new deck in the next chapter. The reason will be explained in the next chapter as well. I have a sub-plot planned for her. Hopefully it doesn't overshadow the main plot. I'll give you a hint: It will be related to the World Legacy/Chalice.**

**Don't know when next chapter will come out. Maybe a month or two. Sorry, but I do not get any time for writing, please forgive me.**

**Review, Favorite and Follow if you like the story. For any mistakes, or if you have any suggestions, post a review or PM me. I read each and every review, that you all type.**

**Regards.**

**OmegaLordTheFirst.**


	7. The World Legacy

**Author's Note(IMPORTANT): There might be a hiatus after this chapter due to some personal reasons.. Keyword here is 'might'. If I do not update this fic or my other one within two or three weeks, then there will be a long wait for the next chapter. I apologize for that. **

**To make up for that time, you can review and PM me about suggestions about what things I can do to improve my fic. Thanks for all your support and enjoy the chapter.**

**Question of the Chapter: ****What is your favorite duel in VRAINS? My answer will be at the bottom of the chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 7

The World Legacy

* * *

"To get you a new deck."

The words that Yusaku spoke had been resonating within her head for a few moments before it actually registered. "Heh! What's wrong with my deck?" Indignation leaked into her words subconsciously making Yusaku put up a hand defensively.

"I didn't say there was."

"Then what did you mean by that?" She snapped back, though controlling her voice to not attract the attention of passersby. She saw the Ignis bearing duelist look around for a second before responding to her.

"Not here." Was all he said, before he turned around and started walking.

Yuna's eyes widened as she leapt after him, curious to know what he meant. "Wait up!"

* * *

Yusaku unlocked the door to his apartment and walked inside, while Yuna had tailed in his footsteps, constantly barraging him with the repeated line of, 'Tell me!' even when it was painfully obvious that Yusaku wouldn't budge from his stance. He let her walk in before shutting the door and walking down the steps to his room. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Roboppy had been switched off for the time being, having completed all its tasks for the time being.

While Yuna looked around the room that she had visited once before, Yusaku walked over to his bed and lifted the mattress, revealing a small card case. He took out the cards he wanted and kept the rest aside.

"Now will you finally tell me what you meant back then?" Yuna asked, clearly annoyed that she had had to wait for so long to receive her answer.

Yusaku held up the deck towards her while explaining his point, "You dueled today in VRAINS, when a lot of people were watching and recording the duel, using the same deck you use in real life. Moreover, you were with me. So, people will try to figure out your identity to get to mine, and they might even succeed."

Yuna looked abashed at his reply, and mustered out a, "So what?"

"So, we have three options. One, you stop being near me in VRAINS and change your profile. Two, you stop using your current deck in real life, and build another one for use in this world. Three, you use this deck in LINK VRAINS, and your real deck outside it. The choice is yours." He explained while raising three fingers in sync with his words.

"Fine, fine! I'll take it!" She shouted and made to grab the deck resting in her senior's hands, but Yusaku retracted his hand as hers came near it. Seeing her look of confusion, he spoke further.

"This is the only other _viable_ deck I have, but it has a condition that comes with it." Yusaku paused and let it sink in before continuing. "There are somethings you should know before you accept it. It was SOL Technologies who made this deck. They used the data material from the Cyberse World to construct support for already existing decks. Therefore, this deck has some Cyberse Monsters, which does make it stronger. Though, if you choose to take it, there will be a drawback."

Yuna's hand fell down at his words, and she asked, "What drawback?" Her voice didn't show the worry she was feeling inside her.

Yusaku directed his gaze at his duel disk, and taking it as his cue, Ai emerged from his duel disk, while bowing as if giving a performance. "**Well, you see, those pricks at SOL made _decks_ as in multiple decks. This was the only one found in Cyberse World after it was destroyed, the rest are spread throughout the network. Other people have probably found them by now, and they will want more Cyberses to strengthen themselves.**" Hearing his words, Yuna's eyes widened at where he was going with this. "**Looks like you know where I'm going with this. Other duelists might come after you to get these Cyberse cards. Are you prepared for that?**"

Yuna looked down for a few seconds, while her bangs covered her eyes, making it impossible to figure out her thought process. She raised her head with a determined look on her face, "I'll take it. And if someone tries to take them away from me, I'll beat them down!" She caught her fist in her left hand, as if ready to start fighting right then and there.

She stretched out her hand and Yusaku, after a second of deliberation, placed the deck into her palm. She excitedly started ruffling through the cards, reading their names and effects, and she stopped at one of them. "Mekk-Knight Crusadia Astram.."

"Its a powerful card, take good care of it." Yusaku cautioned and Yuna nodded absentmindedly while checking all the cards with excitement that few people could muster. "Wait.. what are you doing?" He asked when he saw Yuna collect the entire deck together and place it in her duel disk, while replacing her original deck and placing it in her jacket pocket.

"Duel me! And use your Cyberse this time as well!"

"Why are you so insistent on dueling?" Yusaku sighed, while Ai snickered, enjoying his suffering.

* * *

This time the duel ended in three or four turns, instead of being dragged out for a much longer period. Though this was mostly attributed to Yuna getting the hang of a totally new deck. Though she had gotten the hang of it faster than Yusaku had expected anyone would. Getting up, he straightened out his shirt and let out a long sigh, being tired from dueling twice without any rest. "We should get to Café Nagi, its rush should have calmed down by now.."

"Well what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" She got up and rushed up the steps and out of the room faster than Yusaku could utter any objection.

"**Was it alright to give her _that _card, Yusaku?**" Ai's voice came out of the duel disk as soon as Yuna disappeared into the hallway. "**You think she can handle that much power?**"

Yusaku walked up the steps after switching off the lights. "It was dangerous to give her the deck, but.. I believe she can handle and master its power. That card won't do her much good right now. She will only unlock its power after she has mastered the rest of the deck."

"**Wow! You sure do have faith in her abilities don't you?**" Ai teased him, only to receive a 'Quiet' as a rebuke which made him retreat back into the duel disk. "**Hai, hai.**"

* * *

"Yusaku!" Takeru shouted as the mentioned person approached the café, no doubt having been made aware of his arrival by Yuna who had ran off ahead of him. Seated next to him was a girl whom Yusaku had never seen before. Takeru got up from the table to greet him, but stopped and followed his eyes. "Oh! Yusaku, this is my friend from my hometown, Kamishirakawa Kiku. Kiku, this is my friend from Den City High School, Fujiki Yusaku."

At his words, Kiku stood up to greet him as well. "Takeru's told me so much about you! It's a pleasure to meet you!" She stretched out her hand, the intent for a handshake clear to even him.

He gingerly took the hand and shook it while stuttering, "Yeah.. same here.." He could see Kusanagi snickering at his pathetic attempt at social interaction. Ai's laugh was probably being heard throughout the network, seeing his partner squirm die to his social ineptness. He quickly let go of her hand and walked over to the truck where Kusanagi was cleaning up the counter. "Are you ready?"

He looked up while trying not to grin at Yusaku's barely passable attempt at social interaction that had just taken place. "Yeah, step in and I'll get started." He motioned to the back of the truck. Yusaku walked to the back to see Yuna already opening the door and jumping inside. Yusaku walked inside, and Takeru shut the door behind him.

"You did a good job slowing down the duel that much Yusaku, but their firewalls were really secure. Getting in was-" Kusanagi started while powering the screens on but Yusaku sat down while interrupting him.

"How far did you get?" His fingers were already flying across the keyboard while Takeru and Yuna watched the screen, not understanding half of what was going on.

Kusanagi chuckled while dragging out a map of the city. "I was able to pinpoint the area where he logged in from. Lucky for us its in Den City. He came in from the warehouse district, but I couldn't get an exact location. Sorry."

Yusaku shook his head while listening, "No need to be. You have narrowed it down that much, I'll deal with the rest." He looked down and addressed Ai. "Pull up a list of all the warehouses in that area with all of its details."

"**Mean Yusaku is bossing me around again..**" Ai complained but put up the list on the screen for everyone to see. "**You want to narrow down the options?**"

"Yes.. get rid of those that are not owned by companies related to dueling or SOL Technologies." Yusaku closed his eyes while thinking out loud, and none of the participants questioned him fortunately. He looked back up to see a much shorter list than before, only 10 remaining. "Which of these have security cameras?"

"**8**** of them, and before you ask, I am checking the footage right now.**" Ai waved of Yusaku's next words. "**None of them have any suspicious activity.**"

Ai deleted the names off the list again and this time they were left with just three of them. One of them was owned by SOL Technologies, but the other was owned by Mirage, a sort of rival company to SOL which was failing recently due to the success of the SOL_tis_ released by SOL. "I'll ask Zaizen Akira to look into this.." Yusaku voice out his thoughts while he thought on the problem.

"You know the CEO of SOL Technologies?!" Yuna almost flipped the chair that Yusaku was sitting on while her eyes widened. "Well, he did get rid of the bounty on your head, and declared you a hero.. he knows who you are?"

Yusaku nodded without answering her any further. Ai meanwhile pulled up a feed on the screen again, showing a total black video. "What's this?" Takeru asked as he leaned closer to get a better look.

"**This, is the video from inside the warehouse owned by SOL Tech..**" Ai explained as the screen suddenly shifted to a green filter, making everything appear in the line of sight. "**Switched to night vision.**"

Yusaku's eyes narrowed as he asked, "I thought you said there weren't any cameras in there." Ai almost flinched from the suspicion in his tone.

"**There aren't.. this is from a SOL_tis_ which is kept inside as security. I hacked into it.**" Ai explained while defending himself, making Yusaku's gaze switch from him to the video which was being displayed.

"There isn't any in thing of suspicion here.. which means, the only one left here is the one owned by Mirage." Yusaku opened up a page on Mirage while he voiced out his thoughts.

Takeru leaned back and straightened himself. "Mirage... That's the huge building that's near the station right?"

Kusanagi pulled up the map of Den City back up again, affirming Takeru's thoughts. "Yeah. SOL and Mirage.. what is happening now?" He ran his hand through his hair, irritated at their further discoveries.

Yuna stretched due to being sore from standing in the same spot for some time now. "Well, we'll have to go and check on that place, won't we?" She straightened out her hair. "It could be the Reapers' secret base!" Her eyes were burning with excitement at the thought of helping Playmaker take down a terror causing organisation.

"This isn't a game." Yusaku admonished her, making her at least stop jumping around in excitement, but still retaining her grin."

"But do we have to go at it today?" Takeru asked, making Yusaku and Kusanagi look at him in confusion. "I mean it is Christmas Eve after all.." His voice trailed off at the end, hoping that Yusaku saw the point.

Yusaku straightened up in his chair while turning it around. "I guess you have a point, we shouldn't overwork ourselves.. today has been hectic enough as it-" Whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by a knock on the door which made him stop. Takeru was the closest to the door and he looked at Yusaku, asking for his advice.

Yusaku turned around and closed all the open tabs on the screens and instead pulled up a live feed of VRAINS between Go Onizuka and another nameless duelist competing for his title. After doing so, he turned around and nodded to Takeru, who proceeded to open the door to reveal... Kiku with a worried expression.

"Kiku?!"

Kiku didn't look surprised in the least. She instead developed a frown as she scolded him. "Takeru! You were inside the truck for some time, so I got worried.. what are you doing in there?" She maneuvered her head to look past him and saw the screen where Go Onizuka's attack sent his opponent flying off his D-Board.

"We're watching a duel!" Yuna excitedly explained, the lies flowing through her mouth easily. "Do you want to watch as well? I'm Yuna by the way, and you are?" She easily deflected the topic of the conversation.

"Ah.. I don't really duel.. And I'm Kamishirakawa Kiku. Just call me Kiku." She smiled while extending her hand, which Yuna immediately shook while stepping out of the truck.

Takeru looked back sheepishly at Yusaku. "Sorry, I have to go and show her around town. I'll meet you tomorrow then?" Seeing Yusaku's simple nod, Takeru stepped out of the truck as well and walked off with Kiku, who waved back at Yuna while leaving.

Yuna looked back at her blue-haired senior and waved towards him while turning away. "I have to get back home, I'll see you tomorrow, Nii-san!" She jogged off, leaving Yusaku in the company of Ai and Kusanagi.

Kusanagi shut down all the screens and transformed the shop back to its original state while Yusaku shut the door to the back and stepped out. Walking to the front of the shop he noticed that Kusanagi had opened the shutter and started the stove back up again.

"So what are you going to do for tomorrow?"

Yusaku tilted his head in confusion, not understanding the question. "What do you mean?"

Kusanagi frowned, but quickly explained. "Tomorrow's Christmas! You have to get presents for your friends!"

Yusaku considered the reply and mulled it over in his head. "So that's necessary for people do on Christmas.." Kusanagi almost face faulted at the reply, but managed to keep standing while Ai snickered.

"**Don't worry, Kusanagi! Ai will make sure that Yusaku gets gifts for everyone!**" His pun didn't have the reaction he wanted, but he could see Kusanagi cracking a smirk. "**Operation Christmas is a go!**"

* * *

Yusaku crashed on his bed, exhausted from half a day's worth of shopping he had never thought he would do. In the end, with Ai's help, he had picked out what the Dark Ignis had deemed acceptable gifts for all his frie- acquaintances. The pile of gifts lay at his feet, inside two shopping bags, packed in simple boxes without any gift wrappings. Yusaku was simple like that. Why would you waste money on wrappings which would be torn off the thing anyway?

He should do a head count to make sure he got things for everyone. Takeru, Kusanagi, Yuna, Zaizen, Roboppy, Jin.. He got everyone, right? Then why did it feel like he forgot someone...?

Suddenly, he shot up from his bed, and looked at his duel disk accusatorily. "You didn't tell me what _you_ wanted for tomorrow."

Ai shot out of his duel disk, with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. "**Its a festival that _humans_ celebrate. I'm not human, I'm A.I. remember?**" His words didn't match his actions, as he had been quite adamant when picking out Roboppy's gift. He looked away so Yusaku couldn't see his face. "**Besides, don't worry about me. I have you with me, that's enough of a present..**"

"Ai..." Yusaku felt tears building up behind his eyes. He laid back down and closed his eyes, "Well, whatever.. I'm going to sleep."

Sleep didn't come easily that night.

* * *

When Yusaku woke to his alarm, he didn't see sunlight filtering through his window like usual. Confused, he got up slowly and leaned to see the dull view outside his window. Instead he saw a street covered with snow, children and parents bustling about, playing together. Snow was a rare sight in Den City, and even when it did show, Yusaku had never truly appreciated it before. Revenge had swallowed ten years of his life which he would never get back. It still left a bad taste in his mouth just thinking about it.

He turned around and saw Roboppy was already turned itself on and was cleaning the table where he usually ate. It turned around and noticed that Yusaku was up. "Oh! Master is up! Merry Christmas, Master!"

Yusaku smiled softly, "Yeah.. Merry Christmas, Roboppy." He turned towards his duel disk to wish Ai the same, but he noticed that it was blank. Panic suddenly overtook his thoughts. "Ai!" After wearing the duel disk and hearing no response, Yusaku was ready to call Kusanagi and ask him to help search for Ai. Before he could do any of that, he noticed a message on his duel disk, with Ai's head next to the notification. Confused, he opened the message and read through it.

_Yusaku,_

_Merry Christmas! I should have said it in person, but I wanted to do something by myself. I won't cause much trouble, don't worry. Enjoy the day, I'll be back in a few hours._

_Ai_

Frustrated, he closed the message with an angry swipe, and thought about what to do next. Seeing the pile of gifts next to him, he quickly made his plan for the remainder of the day. First he picked up the box labelled 'Roboppy' and walked across the room towards the mentioned robot. It was busy trying to get rid of a particularly annoying smudge on the wall, but stopped as it heard Yusaku approaching.

"What is it, Master?" Its head tilted sideways as it asked the question.

Yusaku knelt down and placed the item next to Roboppy. It looked confused as it moved next to the box, and stared at it.

"It's your present, for Christmas.." Yusaku looked at the little cleaning bot who's eyes widened into circles in surprise and then morphed into carets.

Its little arms grabbed the sides of the lid and lifted it to reveal a bunch of brushes of various shapes and sizes. It picked up two of them and twisted them around, as if admiring them after which it looked upwards at Yusaku.

"They're brushes, to help you clean easi-" Whatever else Yusaku would have said went ignored by Roboppy as it charged forward and somehow managed to put its arms around Yusaku's leg.

"Thank you, Master! Roboppy will get to cleaning right away!" It somehow managed to express joy in its tone at the prospect of cleaning, something Yusaku could probably never do, and raced around and started applying the brushes to use immediately.

Yusaku's lips turned upwards as he saw the little mech who had been his only companion before meeting Kusanagi rush around with excitement and cleaning previously unreachable spots behind his desks.

He looked down at the pack of gifts still sitting there and he realized that he would have to deliver all of them to their respective recipients.

'I'm having to walk around a lot these days..'

* * *

Yusaku walked in the snow quicker than most people. It was mostly attributed to two things, rather than three. One was his wish to finish of this tedious task quickly and relax for the rest of the day. Even Playmaker had to take holidays. Second was the lack of protective winter gear he had, which didn't make walking around in the snow look like a desirable pastime. The white shirt and black hoodie he wore on top of it barely did anything to protect his ears, neck and hands.

His hands were freezing since he had to carry both bags with the gifts filled inside, else he would have stuffed them inside his pocket. Speeding up his pace, he entered the plaza and spotted Kusanagi's truck. The prospect of a warm coffee fueled his body and gave him the strength needed to finish the journey to Café Nagi.

He saw many people sitting together at the tables set up either by Kusanagi or his younger brother. Many of them were teenagers just enjoying a hot coffee in the morning without a care in the world which made Yusaku wonder if he could one day be able to laugh and smile like they could.

"Yusaku!" Kusanagi called him over while waving his free hand. "Merry Christmas!" His grin was stretching from ear to ear as he reached down and pulled out a small box and placed it on the counter. He motioned for Yusaku to take it, and Yusaku complied, after wishing him the same, as he put down the baggage in his hands, and grabbed the box to remove the wrapping from the top. Inside its transparent box, sat a small camera.

"It's a gift from me and Jin.. Since you're starting to make friends, we thought that you should hold these memories with you. Your phone could do the same thing, but I guess nostalgia got to me.. If you don't want it-" Kusanagi hurriedly explained, with a worried look on his face.

"It's fine, Kusanagi-san.. I got you something as well.." Yusaku saw Kusanagi's face light up with happiness as Yusaku bent down and rifled through one of the packets and finally pulled out his choice. It was labelled 'Kusanagi' with a marker, and didn't have any decorative paper on it, but it didn't seem to matter to Kusanagi as he turned off his stove and accepted the gift.

He lifted the lid and pulled out a bunch of discs, encased in their covers. "Are these-?" Kusanagi asked as he inspected the covers one by one.

"Yes. Since Jin recently got better, I thought you two could talk over some movies.." Yusaku explained while rubbing his hands from the cold. Kusanagi noticed this and kept the discs back in the box, and moved it aside. He took out a mug, specifically reserved for Yusaku and quickly filled it with a brew he had just heated.

Yusaku gratefully took the drink, feeling it warm his hand and enjoyed the taste that came with it. He picked up his bags and dragged his body to an empty table and sat down and gulped down the whole mug in one go instantly feeling it work its way throughout his body like magic. Taking a few seconds to his enjoy the last few drops of his drink, he got up and pulled out his phone and dialed one of the few numbers he had.

"_Hello..? Yusaku?_" Takeru's voice rang out from his phone and it seemed like he had just woken from the call. "_What time is it?_" His voice came between a huge yawn on his part.

"Almost 10." Yusaku answered without missing a beat as he handed the mug back to Kusanagi. "Where are you?"

"_I'm at my house.. wait.. did you say 10?! Oh shit-!_" The call suddenly cut off before Takeru could give details about his situation. Yusaku stared at the phone screen which showed the disconnected call, and shrugged once.

* * *

Yusaku looked at the door which was supposed to lead into Takeru's home. His hand hovered the doorbell uncertainly, then flicked it once. After a moment, he heard footsteps approaching the door, which opened showing Takeru standing there with a white hoodie, in contrast to the black one Yusaku was wearing, and loose pajamas.

"Yusaku!" He yawned once, then stepped aside. "Come in, I'm not a morning person, so ignore the mess.."

Yusaku stepped inside and looked around, not knowing what to expect. There was a mess, but it wasn't out of hand. A couple of books were cluttering a table near the couch, and there were a pair of plates on another table. Disregarding that, the place was actually pretty clean, or at least cleaner than Yusaku would have been able to keep it if he was living... alone?

His train of thoughts was immediately stopped when the friend that Takeru had introduced yesterday, Kiku, had come out of the small kitchen with plates in her hand. "I hope you're hungry. When Takeru told me you were probably stopping over, I made some for you to.." She tilted her head while questioning Yusaku.

"You didn't have to do that.." Yusaku didn't want to impose in any way. He was just here to deliver the things he had spent so long the day before in picking. "I just came to give these.." He handed over the box to Takeru as he placed the last gift back in the packet.

Takeru opened the box and took out the content while letting the empty box drop down. He wrapped the reddish-orange scarf around his neck and turned to Kiku.

"How do I look?" He felt the wool, and it felt snug around his neck. Kiku tilted her head and appraised his look after which she smiled at Yusaku.

"It really suits him. Thank you!" She bowed a bit to show her thanks, while Yusaku fumbled with his hands trying to get her to stop.

Takeru smirked and ran into another room while looking back as he shouted, "Wait there for a second!"

Yusaku looked around uncertainly for a second and realized the situation he was in. Takeru was the middleman in their conversation, the one who knew both Kiku and Yusaku. The two didn't know each other apart from being Takeru's friends.

"You can talk to me, you know.."

"What?" Yusaku eyed her as she was still smiling brightly thinking that Takeru probably got his infectious grin from her.

"Takeru talks about you a lot. I mean a lot." She said as she ran a hand through her hair. "He told me you were even cooler than him in VRAINS, and that's saying something.. since Takeru's avatar looked quite..." She struggled to find the word to describe him.

"Fiery?" He tried to help her along, relieved that he could talk normally like this.

Kiku chuckled a bit. "Yeah, I guess you could call him that. Why don't you have something to eat before you head out again? It's quite cold outside even by my standards.." She motioned to the still heated karaage.

"Are you sure, Kamishirakawa-san? I don't want to impose-"

"Good thing you aren't. And call me Kiku, my family name's a handful. Now come on, tell me how it tastes.." She clapped her hands together, and awaited his answer.

Takeru chose that moment to enter the room while waving a box in his hand. "There's no way he _won't _like it. You probably make the best chicken in the whole country." He picked up some from the plate and stuffed his mouth with it, and sighed in delight at the taste.

Yusaku took the gift, and opened it to pull out a bunch of chocolates. While he too started eating the karaage as both of his hosts sat down, he raised one of the chocolate bars in the air with a raised eyebrow.

Takeru seemed to understand as he explained, "Well.. you never eat properly, and don't like to spend much on food. So... I thought that chocolates would be good since they don't get spoilt quickly and taste awesome. Kiku helped me buy the best ones, its her you should be thanking."

Kiku blushed, embarrassed at the praise that Takeru was showering on her. "N-no, I just helped you in figuring out which one would taste good, you were the one who put so much thought into the gift that you dragged me around shops non-stop yesterday."

While they squabbled with each other over who should be getting the thanks for the gift, Yusaku felt happy. For the first time, somebody had thought about him so much, had shown him such... kindness. He controlled the tears that he knew were welling in his eyes. Even after so many years of practice, it was particularly hard today. "Thank you..." His words stopped their chattering, as they looked back at him. "..both of you."

Takeru looked away to hide the smile that he knew was on his face. "Well.. looks like you solved the problem yet again."

Kiku also accepted his gratitude, while smirking, "Looks like Takeru got embarrassed.." Her words immediately got him to face her, while wiping of the aforesaid emotion from his face.

"No.. I'm not.." He complained, "Don't embarrass me in front of my friend." He weakly retorted back, making Kiku smile even more.

"I should go now.. I have to get the last one delivered, so I can relax for the rest of the day.." Yusaku got up while grabbing his packet, his empty plate laying discarded in front of him.

"Heh.. you're lazy as ever.." Takeru teased him, and surprisingly saw a smirk come over Yusaku's face.

"Oh, Kiku..." His words drew the attention of Kiku who had now relaxed in her chair. "Takeru told me he liked horror movies, but won't accept it in front of you."

Takeru's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, while Kiku filed away the information for... future situations. After Yusaku had closed the door and walked off, Takeru turned towards Kiku, almost afraid to look at her.

"So.. Takeru, which movie do you want to watch?"

'_Is this Christmas or Halloween?_' Takeru thought as he tried to convince her that Yusaku had been joking.

* * *

Yusaku dialed up the number listed as Zaizen Aoi which had only been acquired by him in the recent week. He ignored the snow clinging onto his hoodie, and walked in the general direction of her house.

"_Hello? Fujiki-kun?_" Her voice rang out in his ear over the chatter of people which he could hear in the background.

"Yeah. Where are you right now?" His blunt and to-the-point question-answers were probably some of his less desirable qualities, but he couldn't change his personality now.

"_I'm at the Den City Hospital right now.. but.. why are you asking?_" She asked before Yusaku's finger could descend on the disconnect button.

"I'm hoping to deliver everyone's Christmas gifts quickly.. is that all?" He asked as he changed directions towards the building he had seen only a handful of times before.

"Oh! Ok.. I'll be waiting at the reception." Aoi cut the call before Yusaku could, and after a moment, he quickly pocketed his phone along with one hand and walked in the light snowfall while shivering.

'I'll catch a cold if this goes on..'

* * *

Yusaku entered the hospital and was immediately grateful for the warm interior it provided as compared to the snowing environment outside. He didn't have to wait for long, as he heard his name being called.

"Fujiki-kun!" Aoi's voice was heard from his left as he saw her get up from her seat to walk over to him. "I was surprised when you called. You don't usually.."

"Talk. I get it." Yusaku retrieved another box from his packet, the second to last one, and handed it over to her. "Merry Christmas." He was sure that people had to say the name of the festival with much more vigor and excitement, but it was all he could muster up after walking through the cold snowy morning with nothing but a hoodie to protect him from the cold.

Aoi, for her part, looked surprised as a light blush overcame her face. "You got a gift.. for me?" She questioned while handling the box with care, and then seeing his affirmative nod, opened the box to take out a book about hacking and programming. "Thank you! I'll make it up to you!" Even while Yusaku continued to deny that it wasn't necessary.

"You worked with Ghost Girl, didn't you?" At his sudden question, she nodded in the general language of saying yes. "I don't know what you will do further, but basic hacking and programming is a useful skill to have these days." He explained as she inspected the book while flipping a few pages. "I do look into your account and make sure no one breaks in, but you-"

"You keep my account secure?!" Aoi blurted out suddenly, embarrassed that he was protecting her and doing so without her knowing.

"Well, of course.. How else do you think no one found out your identity?" Yusaku answered as if it was the norm and then looked around, as if suddenly realizing his surroundings. "By the way.. why are you here? Your brother is fine, right?"

Aoi's eyes widened at his question. "No! Nii-sama is fine! I'm here for a friend.. you should probably meet her, though." She finished, confusing Yusaku.

"Why?"

"Well.." Her eyes seemed to be darting all over the place, as if to avoid telling him the exact reason. "Her name's Sugisaki Miyu, and she's like you... a victim of the Lost Incident."

If Yusaku was shocked then it didn't show up on his face. His face still held the same aloof look they always had. "What have you told her?"

"Nothing concrete. I told her about how Aqua came to me, and Playmaker helping save her, but not about you. It wasn't my secret to share." She looked firm on that point. "But you should talk to her first, and then tell her if you want."

Yusaku shook his head in confirmation, grateful that she had not revealed his end of the secret. "Fine. I'll talk to her." At his words, Aoi nodded, turned around and walked into an adjoining corridor, with Yusaku following her.

She paused outside a room and knocked twice. "Come in!" Was the shout heard from inside, and the two duelists walked in to the room to see a girl with long pinkish-brown hair walking around with the help of crutches.

"Miyu-chan!" Aoi ran in, forgetting that Yusaku was still hear. She put Miyu's hand over her own shoulder and led her back to her bed. After setting her down, she gave what might be considered a glare, to her best friend from childhood. "The doctors said that you shouldn't overexert yourself."

Miyu giggled at Aoi's worrying, "Don't worry, Aoi-chan! I'm fine, I can almost walk without those things anymore." She pointed to the crutches she had been using a minute ago. Suddenly her gaze fell on Yusaku standing by the door. "Who's your friend?" She asked Aoi.

Aoi waved her hand at Yusaku while starting to introduce him. "This is-"

"Fujiki Yusaku," He introduced himself while fully stepped into the room. "I.. work with Zaizen."

Miyu tried her best to stand while introducing herself, but Aoi didn't let her get up. Frustrated, she sighed and made her introduction while sitting on the bed. "My name's Sukiyaki Miyu. Call me Miyu or Miyu-chan or whatever nickname you can cook up!" She smiled brightly at Yusaku, and it surprised Yusaku that she was so cheerful. He hadn't expected anyone to get over the Lost Incident so well..

"So? Why'd you come to meet me?"

Yusaku thought about her question, and instead of giving her a straightforward answer, he retaliated with a question of his own. "What makes you think I came here to meet you? I could have just came to talk to Zaizen."

Miyu laughed a bit at his attitude that would usually put off other people. "I can tell that's a lie.. and why else would you come to my room? You already met her, so that means you came to see me."

Yusaku sighed, seeing where Aqua had probably gotten her ability to discern the differences between truths and lies. "You're right. I came to see you because I suffered in my past, just like you."

Hearing his words, Miyu's eyes widened significantly. "Just like me.. you're.. a victim of the Lost Incident?" Seeing his nod of confirmation, Miyu seemed to be at a loss of words as she looked downwards, shielding her eyes with her bangs. "Then let me ask you.. did you move past it? Or does it still haunt your dreams?" Her smile seemed to be forced, and Aoi was surprised that her friend could be feeling this way despite always being happy.

"I have now." Was the answer that Yusaku chose to reply with, while he gazed at the snow falling outside the window. "Now I know everyone who was involved in the Lost Incident."

Miyu was able to get up on her own this time, albeit shakily. "You've met the rest of them already? I want to meet them as well!" She declared with a burning determination in her eyes.

"Calm down..." Yusaku said as Aoi forced the now pouting Miyu to sit back down. "The origin of the Wind Ignis is dead. The one for Earth has joined the Knights of Hanoi, and the one who is responsible for the Light Ignis has had his memories of the Incident wiped. I know the person who partnered with the Fire Ignis, and I was the origin for the Dark Ignis."

"What?! Dead, memory wiped and one of them has joined Hanoi?! What happened?" Miyu questioned in astonishment as her face suddenly gained a calculating look. "Wait.. you know the person who _partnered _with the Fire Ignis? That's Soulburner! And you're the one responsible for the Dark Ignis which means you're-" Her voice was getting excited with each word, until she was interrupted.

"Keep it down. Yes, I am who you think I am. And I would appreciate it if you didn't shout out my identity to the whole city." His rebuke instantly made her quiet down with a meek look on her face.

"Sorry." She didn't feel sorry at all. "So, you're the one who saved me. Thank you!"

"I wasn't thinking of saving you. I was accomplishing my own objectives, due to which you got saved. You don't need to thank me." His simple explanation managed to bring a frown on both girls' lips.

"Regardless, you were the one who saved me. Not SOL Technologies, not some government officials. But you, and for that, I thank you." Her lips turned upwards into a beaming smile as she conveyed her gratitiude. "Now come on, tell me how all this happened! I want to know!" She exclaimed suddenly, causing Aoi to jump back.

A sigh escaped Yusaku due to being forced to deal with excited people over and over again. Playmaker's life was so much simpler, he just had to duel and win. "I still have somethings to do, and besides, Zaizen knows the story. She can tell you." He glanced at the brown haired girl who nodded in response and got up.

"Don't worry, I will." At her words, Yusaku turned around and was about to walk out when her words stopped him. "Oh! And Fujiki-kun, Hosoda-senpai mentioned that I should tell you that the practice for the Inter High School Dueling Championship will resume from tomorrow. You really should exchange phone numbers.." Aoi sighed as she conveyed the message as instructed by her senior.

Yusaku only nodded once to communicate his acceptance, and walked out of the room. He heard Miyu's voice behind him, as she talked with Aoi.

"So... what's the Inter High School Dueling Championship?"

* * *

A bell chimed as Yusaku entered the shop owned by Suzuki Himura. There were little kids dragging their parents around the shop, likely to get them presents for Christmas. He noticed Yuna helping some parents pick out certain cards as presents and giggling with kids younger than her age. She suddenly seemed to notice his presence, as she quickly picked out some cards, handed them to the customers and walked towards him.

"Nii-san! Merry Christmas!" Her smile was unwavering even though her antics had failed to bring even a ghost of happiness to Yusaku. "You took so long I was worried you won't come. What took you?"

Yusaku waited for her to finish before wishing her back, albeit in a dull tone, contrasting her excited one. "I was delivering gifts, yours is the last one." He handed the last and final box to Yuna, and scrunched up the packet and pocketed it.

Yuna's eyes widened in joy as she took the box. "You got me a gift?" She questioned in a giddy tone, shouting loud enough to make half the store look their way.

"It also has one for Suzuki-san.." Before he could complete his sentence, Yuna had disappeared in a blur, running off towards the counter to open it. "..so open it carefully." Yusaku released a long sigh which he had been keeping in for some time.

'Why do I even bother?'

He walked over to see Yuna and her grandfather admiring the gifts he had gotten them. He had gotten a coffee mug for Himura, and for Yuna, a deck case to keep her cards. While Yuna quickly fitted her deck inside and ran off, Himura turned the mug over in his hand, while inspecting it. "I thank you for your gift, Yusaku-kun.. but how did you know I wanted this same mug? I placed an order for it online, but it was cancelled due to scarcity of deliverymen.."

Yusaku thought back to the day before, when he was purchasing these items. Ai had mentioned that Himura would appreciate the same glass, but had refrained from saying why. Now Yusaku gritted his teeth in frustration. Due to him, Yusaku would end up making Himura suspicious.

"Probably coincidence." He smoothly lied.

Himura nodded in agreement. "Probably.."

Yuna, who had disappeared in their conversation, promptly returned with a box in her hand, wrapped with blue paper. She handed him his gift and the grandfather-granddaughter duo wished him 'Merry Christmas'.

He unwrapped the paper and pulled out a pair or black gloves, and a dark blue scarf. He questioningly looked back at the two, and Yuna chose to explain.

"You always seemed to be cold, so we got you those to help you keep warm!" She finished off excitedly and added on. "And no need to thank me!"

Yusaku, to her surprise, gave a small smile, but quickly turned away, and hid it by putting on the scarf. "Thanks.." The scarf immediately made his neck feel better, protecting it from the chill he had been feeling but ignoring throughout the day.

"Now that that's taken care of.. duel me!" Yuna exclaimed, with a burning desire for dueling in her eyes.

Immediately, Yusaku turned around, declining her request. "No. Not today, I'm on a holiday." Yuna immediately frowned in sadness, but immediately cheered up for some reason.

"Fine then, but tomorrow you'll duel me!" She declared, regaining her previous determination. "I'll beat you!"

"Whatever," Yusaku rolled his eyes as he left the store and put on the gloves which had just been gifted to him. The snow was much more bearable now with his more protective coverings. His breath was still visible in the snowing city, but it wasn't inconveniencing him any way now.

He took the shortest path back to his home, stopping only to see a girl with long auburn hair, standing to the side with one packet in one hand, and a bunch of discarded items laying on the ground beside her. She didn't seem to be asking anybody for help, and nor was anybody volunteering to help. People were walking by without batting an eye. It reminded him of his own situation when he was a kid, where he hadn't cried for help, but even if he had, no one would have come to his aid.

She didn't seem particularly sad though, just annoyed mostly. He realized that he had been staring at her while lost in his own thoughts, and shook his head once to free his trance. He knew that he didn't have to help her, that he didn't even know her. Seeing the fallen items and a torn bag lying at her feet he realized that her bag must have been torn.

He walked up to her and waited for her to notice him. When she did, she stared at him hard with violet eyes. "What do you want?" She asked, not in a particularly kind tone.

He was taken aback by her tone, but his face didn't show anything. Pulling out the now empty bags he had previously carried his gifts in, he stretched out his hand. He didn't need them now, the small camera and chocolates had fitted inside his hoodie pocket without much of a fuss.

She looked at the bags in surprise, her sharp eyes narrowing in suspicion. Even he would be, if some stranger offered him help. "What are you playing at? I don't need your help, someone's already coming to pick me up."

He shook his head side to side, "Nothing. Just take it. I don't need them, it'll help you." He kept his hand outstretched, hoping she would get this over with. Her glare softened a bit as she took the bag and mumbled 'Thanks'.

Yusaku knelt down and quickly helped her put all the spilled items back into the bags, after which he got up and left. If he had stayed, he would have noticed the calculating stare the girl had while watching him disappear into the crowd.

Yusaku opened the door to his room, and stumbled inside while locking it behind him. The lights were on, which was strange since Roboppy could work with the lights off and Yusaku was sure he had turned them off before leaving.

As soon as he reached the top of the staircase which led down to his room, he saw a person standing in his room. They had mostly black hair, with yellow outlines, and purple-pink bangs in the front. The being was wearing a purple shirt and black pants, and added a cape on top of it. The grin that was on his face made Yusaku nervous as to what he was planning.

"Hey, Yusaku! Like my look!" Ai asked him from the SOLtiS body.

* * *

**Author's Note: And cut. So? How was the chapter(Mostly filler though)? Do you people prefer longer or shorter chapters? Liked the cliff hanger at the end?**

**My answer to the question of the chapter is: Playmaker vs Revolver Round 4. Looking forward to seeing your answers, PM or review with your answers.**

**As always, favorite, follow and review! Next chapter MAY take longer than a month, depending on my personal situations. Sorry.**

**Regards.**

**OmegaLordTheFirst.**

* * *

**Own cards used in the last chapter(Forgot to add this in last chapter):**

**Phoenix Knight LVL 3 Warrior/Effect ATK/DEF 1400/1000 FIRE  
**When this card attacks a monster with 1000 or lower attack, all battle damage is halved. Once per turn(Quick Effect): You can send this card to the graveyard to Special Summon 1 FIRE Warrior monster from your hand. If your opponent activates a card effect that targets a FIRE Monster you control, you can banish this card to negate the activation and destroy it. You can only use each effect of Phoenix Knight once per turn.

**Phoenix Gearboost / Equip Spell  
**You can equip this card to a FIRE monster you control. The monster equipped with this card cannot be destroyed by battle. When the monster equipped with this card destroys an opponent's monster by battle, you can send this card to the graveyard: the monster can declare another attack.

**Guard of Fire / Continuous Trap  
**(This card is always treated as a Salamangreat card.)  
FIRE Monsters you control cannot be destroyed by battle, but each time this effect is applied the monster loses 500 attack points(if it cannot lose 500 attack this effect does not activate). While this card is face up on the field, you cannot take effect damage. Destroy this card on your 2nd Standby Phase after activation.

**Bomb Fur Hire / Normal Trap  
**Activate only during the damage step, when an Attack Position Monster "Fur Hire" on your field is targeted for an attack. Target 1 card on your opponent's field, except for the attacking monster, and destroy it, but double the battle damage for this damage calculation. You can only activate 1 'Bomb Fur Hire' per chain.

**Backlash Fur Hire / Normal Trap  
**Activate only when an opponent's monster declares an attack on a Monster 'Fur Hire' you control which has lower attack than the attacking monster on the same turn that a 'Fur Hire' you control was destroyed. Cards and effects cannot be activated in response to this card's activation.


	8. Turn 1: The Soldier of Chaos

**Author's Note: Ai's sentences will not be in bold when he is in his SOLtiS body.**

**Question of the Chapter: What is your favorite monster from the VRAINS anime?**

**My answer is at the bottom.**

* * *

Chapter 8

Turn 1: The Soldier of Chaos

* * *

"Hey, Yusaku! Like my look?"

Ai was expecting Yusaku to freak out, and ask questions like 'How did you get that body?' or 'What are you up to now?'. What he wasn't expecting, was for Yusaku to sigh and march down the stairs without a word of complaint.

"Hey! At least acknowledge my presence! Not many people are lucky enough to see my beauty in this form." Ai joked hoping to get a response from Yusaku, but he just got a roll of eyes in response.

"I don't have time for this.." Yusaku sighed as he removed his gloves and threw them onto the bedside desk.

"Come on.. don't tell me you aren't curious as to how I got this body again?" Ai waved his hands around desperately, hoping for Yusaku to react to something.

At this Yusaku stopped and considered Ai's words for a moment, after which he looked over at Ai and narrowed his eyes. "How _did_ you get that body? And if you say you stole it, I'm sending you back."

Ai was about to reply, but stopped himself after Yusaku finished his sentence and gave a sheepish grin in response. "Ah! Well.. I didn't exactly steal it. I changed all the records SOL had, so legally, this shouldn't even be with them right now." Ai explained while winking at his own reply. "And besides, is it a crime to want to celebrate Christmas with your partner?"

Yusaku didn't have anything to say to that, so he didn't.

"Fine. What do you want to do?"

As soon as Yusaku said it, Ai made a look of joy and winning as he pumped his fists into the air. "Yes! Let's go to an ice cream store. I have always wanted to get one of those."

Yusaku wondered how Ai would take it when he realized that he couldn't taste ice cream.

* * *

**January 1**

BANG!

Yusaku shot awake from his bed at the sound, only to be blasted with a stream of confetti by his Ignis partner.

"Happy New Year!"

Ai and Roboppy were both holding a confetti cannon(When did Ai even get that?) and were smiling at Yusaku who just growled angrily at being forced to get up.

"Come on! Don't you know what it is today?" Ai complained, making Yusaku to think about what occasion today was for getting up early.

"The Championship!" He quickly got up and started throwing on his school uniform, along with the scarf and gloves he had received from Yuna. "How much time is left?"

Ai didn't turn towards any clock as he replied. "20 minutes."

Yusaku swore loudly as he quickly blew through the door, and rushed down the stairs leading to the street. He was about to start running towards King's Arena, when Ai's voice caught up to him, making him stop in his tracks.

"What are you doing here?" He asked his partner, who came running out of the building.

"Coming with you, obviously." He replied, eliciting a look of confusion from Yusaku. "Well, I just want to explore the city, outside of your duel disk, and this is the perfect opportunity to do so. And besides, I called Kusanagi to pick you up." Ai pointed towards the street, where he could see Kusanagi's truck standing in the middle of the street. Kusanagi waved from inside, a gesture which Yusaku mirrored.

"You could have mentioned this earlier." He glared at Ai, after which he turned and walked towards the truck with his partner(baggage) in tow. Yusaku quickly hopped into the passenger street as Ai got in the back of the truck. Turning towards Kusanagi, he nodded his head, who immediately stepped on the accelerator and blasted off towards the stadium at speeds that would surely invite the police over.

After some crazy turns(curtesy of Kusanagi) and a few shortcuts(curtesy of Ai), Kusanagi stopped the truck near the stadium. "This is as far as we can go. The traffic is too much near the entrance."

Yusaku didn't look worried, as a lot of time had been saved simply by getting to this point. "It's fine, I'll make it in time now. Tha-"

"No need to thank me, Yusaku. I had planned to open up shop somewhere near here, the traffic will be good for business." Kusanagi put on a sly smile which one would expect on the face of a businessman. He watched Yusaku step out of the truck and stretched his arms before he started walking on the pavement, heading in the direction of the gigantic stadium that was King's Arena.

"Yusaku!" Ai shouted as he ran after him, while Kusanagi watched the whole exchange while snickering. "I'll get lost if you go ahead!"

"What sort of A.I. are you to get lost?"

"Mean!" Ai dramatically clutched his chest area, as if he was in pain. After a few seconds, he straightened up and said. "How do you think your team will fare in this tournament? Do you think you'll lose the first round because your genius dueling AI wasn't helping you?" He made fun of Yusaku, hoping to elicit a reaction out of the stoic-faced teen.

"Quiet. You're making a scene." Yusaku reprimanded as some people had turned to stare at the duo walking down the street. Ai's outrageous clothing style and his own equally outrageous hair probably contributed to that. "I have no idea of the level of opponents we are up against. Zaizen and Takeru can handle themselves, and Hosoda-senpai isn't a slouch either, from what I've seen. But the one who will make or break our team is-"

"Fujiki!" Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Too bad that Naoki didn't even wait for Yusaku to call out his name. He stepped up from the rest of the group which consisted of Hosoda, Aoi, Miyu, Takeru and Kiku and waved for Yusaku to join them. "What took you so long? You're cutting it real close, you know?"

Hosoda, the ever reliable senior, came to his rescue. "Enough, Shima-kun. What's important is that Fujiki made it in time. Are you ready, Fujiki-kun?" He turned towards the blue-pink haired teen as he voiced out the question to which he got an affirmative nod in response. "Good, then let's head inside. We were assigned to waiting room 2A for the time be- Fujiki-kun... Who is this?" He directed his gaze at Ai who had remained silent throughout the exchange.

Yusaku silently cursed, not having thought up an excuse for Ai's presence. Luckily, Ai chimed in on his own. "I am Ai, a SOLtiS made to help Fujiki Yusaku navigate through his daily life." He bowed with a flourish, while throwing his cape around him.

"A SOLtiS? Ah! I see the LED now.. I didn't know you were one to keep a SOLtiS Fujiki-kun. But we can talk about that later, right now we have to get to our room." He took out a pass from his pocket and showed it to them. The entire team's names were printed in a neat bold on the pass, and the words '2A' sat on the bottom of the ticket.

They rest of the team followed Hosoda while Kiku and Miyu quickly went off to find some seats, having already become friends in the short time before Yusaku arrived. Ai was about to go after them as well, but Takeru's tug at his arm stopped him. He peered down at the shorter white-red haired duelist, who looked sheepish.

"I just wanted to ask you to take care of Kiku.. she hasn't been in the city much. So-"

"Don't worry, Soulburner.. I'll take care of your girlfriend." Ai remarked, noting that Takeru's face reddened with embarrassment, but no rejection came from his side. "You can do the same for me and look after Yusaku."

Takeru calmed down before replying, "I will, but he can take care of himself. Yusaku's stronger than you think."

"Yeah.. he is strong." Ai replied and walked off without any further explanation, leaving Takeru to run off after his team.

* * *

Hosoda talked to a tournament official outside the door while Yusaku sat in a chair while keeping his eyes closed. He really should try to get some sleep at night..

His musings were interrupted when the door was shut and the senior most member of the team walked in. Yusaku opened his eyes to look at him, and realized that he looked worried for some reason. Aoi seemed to have noticed the same thing as she voiced it out instead of him.

"Did anything go wrong, senpai?" She asked while getting up from her chair. "What did they come to inform us about?"

Hosoda adjusted his yellow framed glasses while releasing a sigh as he read through the document present in his hand. "Apparently, there are too many participating teams for the tournament. So some of the schools will be forced to do an extra match to eliminate the 'extra' teams. Ours is the first and it's scheduled in 15 minutes."

"What?!" Naoki voiced out his frustration. "I thought we were already qualified for the thing! No one said anything about an extra match, so why are we being forced to do this?"

"It's probably because our school hasn't participated in any official tournament. Am I right?" Aoi replied back calmly, masking the annoyance that she was feeling.

"Well, think about it like this; it'll be good practice for when we actually duel in the tournament." Takeru tried to encourage them, which seemed to work as Naoki seemed pumped up and Aoi smiled lightly.

Hosoda nodded his head in agreement. "A fair point, so.. is everyone ready for this?" He asked while turning his head to look at everyone. Takeru grinned and pumped his fists in confidence, while Aoi nodded. Naoki made some sort of victory pose unfamiliar to everyone present in the room. Yusaku didn't reply instead choosing to hum in agreement.

"Then let's go!"

* * *

Ai was not in a situation that he would call his usual. He was currently entertaining the duo of Sugisaki Miyu and Kamishirakawa Kiku, who kept bombarding him with questions about everything, and he did his best to answer.

"Why do you not act like other A.I.?"

Ai paused at the question, quickly calculating future scenarios on what would happen if he lied. The simulations didn't show favorable outcomes, so he decided to just screw secrecy and be honest with them. It would make talking with them easier, and moreover, they could be trusted. Miyu was the origin of the Water Ignis, Aqua while Kiku was the childhood friend of Takeru.

"Listen carefully. It's not a thing I will repeat, but first, answer this: How much have Takeru and Zaizen told you about their activities in VRAINS?" He dropped his volume while speaking, causing the two listeners to duck their heads closer to his.

"How's this related? But Aoi told me everything, about how the Water Ignis was made from me, and that she's Blue Maiden or whatever she's calling herself these days, oh and also Yusaku is Playmaker, who is responsible for the creation of the Dark Ignis, who is still alive.." Miyu's speech slowed to a crawl as her eyes widened in realization, but before she could voice out her conclusion, Kiku interrupted in a hushed voice.

"He is Playmaker?! That makes sense now, seeing as how Takeru is Soulburner, who is Playmaker's partner in LINK VRAINS. And what is an Ignis?"

"Takeru is Soulburner?!" Miyu almost shouted out, but suddenly covered her mouth and dipped her head low. Luckily, due to the commotion going all around them, her outburst had went unnoticed. "Sorry.."

Ai actually grinned at both their realizations, they had basically figured it all out themselves. Now he had plausible deniability if someone suspected him of them, even though he knew Yusaku would never believe him. "Good, you all figured it out yourselves. And I am, of course, the handsome and perfect, Dark Ignis." He declared with a bow.

While Miyu giggled at his overdramatic introduction, Kiku sighed in resignation. "I still don't know what an Ignis is though.."

Ai's yellow eyes glowed as if expressing his excitement. "How much do you know about the Lost Incident?"

* * *

Yusaku felt this strange urge to hit someone, preferably Ai, for reasons unknown. He was probably doing something that would make his life difficult.

"Is everyone ready? Any one of us could be called for the qualifying match, even you Shima-kun." Hosoda directed his glare at the incompetent duelist who seemed to have nerves of steel as his smile didn't flicker a bit.

"Hmph, they better hope its not me, or else their chances of qualifying for the tournament will be zero before the match even starts. I'll show them the great skills that Playmaker taught me." He again made a pose that no self respecting duelist would ever attempt, alive or dead. Nobody got a chance to correct his fantasies as the MC suddenly started his announcement back up.

"**Sorry to keep you waiting everyone! I am your host for the Inter High School Dueling Championship, or IHSDC for short. Before we get to actual tournament, I must share some news with my precious** **audience.**" The MC had orange hair and wore sunglasses, and was seated in a podium far above the ground. He made dramatic gestures to keep the focus of the crowd on him as they clung onto his every word.

"**With all the teams assembled now we have learned of a shocking development. The number of teams participating is far greater than the amount that can be stationed here. Therefore, we are going to have some qualifying matches to trim the excess of participants. Doesn't that get your blood pumping, because it does get mine! Are you ready?**" The crowd cheered at his words, clearly taken in by the excitement of starting the matches so quickly.

"**Now then, for the first qualifying match for the day, we have a newly formed Duel Club from our very own Den City, give it up for Den City High School!**" As expected, they didn't receive much cheers since they were basically newcomers to the dueling circuit. The MC didn't look disheartened in the least as he continued onwards. "**Their opponents are the calculating group of veterans who have made several appearances in past tournaments, please welcome Cyril City High School!**"

Standing opposite to Yusaku were their opposing team consisting of five members who all wore their school uniform of light blue jackets with matching pants. They received a much louder applause than their own team had, as was expected. They were veterans in the dueling circuit, while Yusaku's own team wouldn't even qualify as rookies.

"**And now, our computer program will randomly decide which participant will represent their team in this bout between Den and Cyril. Say it with me everyone, CARD SHUFFLE!**" As soon as he shouted the words, huge monitors placed all over the stadium lit up to display the photos of the five members of both teams. The photos were turned upside down to make them look like Duel Monsters cards, and were shuffled together. After the shuffling, the top card was turned face up to reveal the face of the chosen duelists, with their names below their photos.

Yusaku looked up at the face which was revealed and thought that Ai must have messed with the system because there was no way this could be happening. The probability that he was chosen for the first match was... 20%. Okay, so there was a decent chance that it could have happened, but it didn't mean he didn't reserve the right to complain about it.

"**And the program has decided! The first qualifying match will be between Fujiki Yusaku and Takizawa Sanzo! Both duelists should step forward so the duel can be held as soon as possible!**" The crowd cheered along with the MC as they finally got what they had come for, a duel.

Yusaku sighed, as looked to his side. Hosoda looked apprehensive, the reason unknown to Yusaku. Takeru smirked, most likely confident in his abilities, while Aoi also shook her head, conveying her support. Naoki though, as expected, was the one who was most vocal in his support.

"Come on Fujiki! Don't lose now, or else I won't be able to show off my great skills that I've learned from Playmaker." He waved his hands dramatically, which Yusaku ignored as he walked down the steps to the ground level.

He walked towards the square that was marked for the duelist to stand on, and took his place, while across the field, his opponent did the same. Sanzo was a black haired teenager, with narrow eyes, and a cocky smile who held up his A.I. style duel disk in a relaxed manner.

"Let's get this over with, I have better things to do." His silver duel disk lit up at his words, while Yusaku raised his hand as his own duel disk lit up without responding to the taunt.

"Duel!"

**Fujiki Yusaku v Takizawa Sanzo**

**Yusaku: 4000**

**Sanzo: 4000**

"I'll be taking the first step towards claiming victory!" Sanzo claimed as he drew his five cards, which Yusaku accepted. "I'll start by summoning Crashbug X to my field, and set two cards to end my turn. Now go on, show me what you can do."

**Crashbug X LVL 3 Fiend/Effect ATK/DEF 0/2000 DARK**

"**Contestant Sanzo has ended his turn with just 1 monster with 0 attack points and two set cards! Is this part of his strategy, or just bad luck?**" The MC asked incredulously.

'Of course it's part of his plan.' Yusaku thought, but didn't say anything. "My turn, I draw! Since you control more monsters than I do, I can Normal Summon this card without tributes! I summon Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight!"

**Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight LVL 7 Warrior/Effect ATK/DEF 2300/2100 DARK**

"Battle! Arisen Gaia attacks Crashbug X!" Yusaku declared as the horse mounted knight charged at the little fiend on the opposing field. Sanzo didn't flinch for a second as he activated his card.

"Too bad, I activate my Trap **Safe Zone**, with this my Crashbug X is protected from being destroyed by you. But that's not all, I also activate my second set card, **Half Shield**! With this, my battle damage is halved from your monster!"

Gaia swung his spear, but a shield appeared in front of the small fiend, protecting it from most of the damage.

**Sanzo: 4000-1150****➡2850**

Yusaku looked at the field before sighing as he placed two more cards on the field. "I set two cards and end my turn."

Sanzo smirked as he drew his card, "Hmph! If that's all you could manage, then this won't require much effort! My turn! I draw!" He looked at the card and smiled as he calculated his moves. "I Normal Summon Crashbug Y from my hand. And since Crashbug X is already on the field, I get to Special Summon Crashbug Z from my deck!"

**Crashbug Y LVL 3 Fiend/Effect ATK/DEF 0/2000 DARK**

**Crashbug Z LVL 3 Fiend/Effect ATK/DEF 0/2000 DARK**

Yusaku looked on impassively as two more monsters appeared on the field. " 3 Level 3 Monsters.."

"Looks like you figured it out. You aren't as slow as you seem. Now of course I will construct the overlay network with these 3 monsters." His three monsters set themselves in the three ends of the cross which appeared behind him. "Darkness overlaps with darkness to create infinite terror! Xyz Summon! Show yourself, Rank 3! Ultimate Crashbug!"

**Ultimate Crashbug Rank 3 Fiend/Xyz/Effect ATK/DEF 2000/1000 DARK**

"**What's this?! Takizawa Sanzo has just Xyz Summoned his ace monster! But it's attack points are still not enough to beat Fujiki Yusaku's fierce knight!**" The MC shouted as their were sounds of amazement from the crowd.

"Who said that's all? When Ultimate Crashbug is Xyz Summoned using Crashbug X, Y and Z, his attack points are doubled!" At Sanzo's declaration the bigger version of his 3 monsters screeched as its power doubled. "I'll also be setting these 2 cards."

**Ultimate Crashbug 2000****➡4000**

"That's not the end folks! I can also detach one overlay unit from this card to activate one of three effects. Right now, I'll choose to destroy all Spell and Trap cards on the field! Virus Discharge!" His ace monster released a pulse of dark energy, which destroyed 2 cards on both fields. "Your defence was just removed, but my two set cards were both Statue of the Wicked, which Special Summons 2 tokens to my field when destroyed!"

**Wicked Token LVL 4 Fiend/Normal ATK/DEF 1000/1000 DARK**

**Wicked Token LVL 4 Fiend/Normal ATK/DEF 1000/1000 DARK**

"Now we battle! Ultimate Crashbug attacks Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight! Crash Pulse!" The large fiend opened its mouth and fired off a blast of energy which destroyed Gaia and pushed Yusaku back. "And now my two tokens will also attack you directly." The two tokens also fired off their attacks, throwing Yusaku even further back.

**Yusaku: 4000-1700-1000-1000****➡300**

"**Ohhh! With a swift combo delivered by Takizawa Sanzo, Fujiki Yusaku's life points hang on the brink of the abyss which is defeat. This match looks to be already over!**" The MC shouted out as the people also cheered along with him.

* * *

Kiku gasped in the stands as she watched the match. "I don't play Duel Monsters much, but even I know that your life being at 300 is a bad thing. He'll lose at this rate won't he?" She expressed her concern as she watched Yusaku get back on his feet.

Ai just smirked as he relaxed with his hands behind his head. "Don't worry.. if Yusaku started losing to duelists like him, then Playmaker couldn't have gone undefeated, could he?"

Miyu's eyes grew wide as saucers as she heard this. "He's undefeated?! Never lost a match?"

Ai opened one eye to look at her as his smirk widened. "Since he met me. If I left him, then he would probably lose all time." Ai boasted while gesturing to himself with one hand.

Unfortunately though, Kiku shattered his pride to pieces. "But didn't you just say that he will win? And you're here, but you said that he's still going to win."

Miyu giggled at Ai's befuddled expression, as he desperately tried to salvage the situation.

* * *

"This match isn't over yet!" Yusaku declared as he glared at his opponent. "My turn, I draw! When I don't control any monsters, I can Special Summon Lord Gaia the Fierce Knight from my hand! Next I activate the Spell **Monster Reborn**! This Special Summons Arisen Gaia the Fierce Knight from my graveyard. Then I set one card, and now since I have only this card in my hand, I can Normal Summon it without tributes. Come, Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight!"

**Lord Gaia the Fierce Knight LVL 7 Warrior/Effect ATK/DEF 2300/2100 EARTH**

**Swift ****Gaia the Fierce Knight LVL 7 Warrior/Effect ATK/DEF 2300/2100 DARK**

"**Look at his turn of events! Fujiki Yusaku has managed to bring out three level 7 monsters on his field! Will it be enough to defeat Takizawa Sanzo?**" The MC and the crowd witnessed the tables turning, and couldn't help but be taken in by the passion with which Yusaku was dueling.

"Now! Appear! The circuit that leads to the future!" This had different reactions for everyone. Kiku and Miyu watched in awe as he performed his summoning, while Ai still sat with a lazed expression on his face. Takeru cheered Yusaku on, while Hosoda looked on speechless as Fujiki Yusaku, the boy who showed no interest in dueling was suddenly dueling with such passion.

"The summoning conditions are 3 monsters with different names. I set Lord Gaia, Arisen Gaia and Swift Gaia in the Link Markers! Circuit combine! Force open the gates of chaos with your power and become a legend once more! Link Summon! Appear, LINK-3 Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos!" His three monsters jumped upwards and set themselves into the upwards, bottom-left and bottom-right link markers.

Through the portal a hand appeared and grasped the circuit and slowly pulled himself into existence, revealing himself to be a warrior clad in dark blue and gold armor while brandishing a sharp sword and sturdy shield. Sanzo looked at the new monster unflinchingly, even though a bead of sweat was trailing down his neck.

**Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos LINK-3 Warrior/LINK/Effect ATK 3000 EARTH**

"**What is that amazing monster? I have never heard of anything like it!**" The crowd cheered on in amazement at the intimidating warrior who stood with his sword tip buried in the ground. "**Will contestant Yusaku be the one to pull through in this match?**"

"I activate my set card, the Equip Spell, **Lightning Saber**. This card increases Soldier of Chaos' attack points by 300." Black Luster Soldier raised his sword into the sky as lightning struck it and started coursing through the blade. "Now let's battle!"

**Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos 3000****➡3300**

"Slow down! I activate Ultimate Crashbug's effect! I can also detach one overlay unit from this card to destroy one monster on the field! I'll of course be destroying your Soldier of Chaos! Too bad, your monster is destroyed-" Sanzo interrupted by activating his monster's effect.

"Are you sure about that?" Yusaku remarked back, making him stop even though Ultimate Crashbug fired off a stream of energy at the legendary warrior, who stood and took it. The smoke cleared to reveal it to be unharmed from the effect. "Since Soldier of Chaos was Link Summoned using a Level 7 or higher monster, it cannot be destroyed by card effects."

"What?!" Sanzo looked worried for a second but again, schooled his face to show no reaction.

"Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos attacks your Wicked Token!" It jumped up and got ready to slash the little fiend to pieces.

"Hook, line and sinker! I activate Ultimate Crashbug's effect again by detaching one overlay unit! Now I can target one monster and turn its attack to 0 until the end of the turn!" Sanzo finished off smirking. "Your monster will be destroying itself and you along with it."

"That won't happen!" Yusaku declared while raising his hand. "Along with not being destroyed by your card effects, you also can't target it with card effects!"

This actually made Sanzo falter as reality caught up to him. "But then- that would mean-"

"You have to target your own monster for its effect!" Yusaku declared as Ultimate Crashbug fired off a stream of energy but Soldier of Chaos lifted its shield and deflected the wave back at itself, and then slashed apart the token it was attacking.

**Ultimate Crashbug: 4000****➡0**

**Sanzo: 2850-2300****➡550**

Sanzo was blown back from the shockwave, but slowly got back to his feet again while grunting. "You still haven't won. On the next turn I will-"

"I'll end it here! Lightning Saber's effect! Since the equipped monster destroyed your monster by battle, I can halve its attack points, and allow it another attack!" Yusaku declared as Black Luster Soldier glared at the two weak fiends on Sanzo's field. "Chaos Blade!"

At Yusaku's declaration, his monster rushed forward and cleanly cut through the last token, depleting the remainder of his life points.

**Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos: 3300****➡1650**

**Sanzo: 550-650****➡0**

**Winner: Yusaku**

"Damn.. you.." Was all Sanzo could get out before he was thrown backwards from the match ending hit.

"**And there you have it! In a spectacular comeback, Fujiki Yusaku has managed to claim the victory for his team. It looks like Den City High School will be the one moving onto the actual tournament.**" The MC shouted as the monitors removed Sanzo's picture, and enlarged Yusaku's image, with the words 'WINNER' written beneath it.

Yusaku took a deep breath and calmed himself, having gotten too much into the duel. He heard the applause of the crowd but paid it no attention, instead favoring to just sit down somewhere quiet and relax.

He slowly started the journey back to where the rest of the Duel Club's members were seated, as the monitors overhead displayed Soldier of Chaos delivering a dramatic slash to finish the duel.

When he got back to them, Naoki nearly jumped on him while shouting incoherently in awe. "Wow! That was so cool Fujiki! You should have told me you were a Playmaker fan. You looked just like him with that 'Appear! The circuit that leads to the future!'. We could have went to some of the meet and greets of Playmaker together!"

Yusaku isn't sure he wants to know where Naoki has been, considering Yusaku himself wouldn't be caught dead attending or organising a _meet and greet_ of all things. He decides to leave the boy to his fantasies, since correcting him would take more energy than it would be worth.

Hosoda shook his head approvingly, "That was a fantastic duel, Fujiki-kun. I would say I believed in you from the start, but that would be a lie." He joked while shaking his hand.

Takeru slung his arm over his friend's shoulder while grinning, "Well, I believed in him from the start! There was no way Yusaki was going to lose!"

Aoi also agreed with Takeri, "Yeah, that was an amazing monster you used. What was it called again? I think it was Black Luster Soldier - Soldier of Chaos.. I think I've heard that name before.."

Naoki butted in at this moment. "Who hasn't heard of Black Luster Soldier? It's a legendary card which the King of-"

Thankfully, whatever Naoki was about to reveal was stopped as the MC started the next announcement. "**After that spectacular comeback, our next match will be..**"

Yusaku tuned out that voice, deeming it unimportant. It seemed like Hosoda had gotten the same idea, as he too started to speak. "We should get going. We don't have any other match today, so we should get in the stands or back to our room since we've qualified for the tournament now."

Naoki jumped in excitement as he raced back to the room. "Come on everyone! Let's get back quickly, or else we'll miss the rest of the matches." He bounded ahead of everyone, while the rest of them sighed in unison at his antics.

* * *

It was evening by the time Yusaku exited King's arena. Takeru had left with Miyu some time ago, after Yusaku had reassured him that Yusaku could handle the investigation alone.

He walked quickly with a goal to investigate the warehouse from which the Reapers had most likely logged in from. He had been busy with attending the practices for the tournament each day, and stuck between teaching Naoki how to duel, and Yuna constantly challenging him to duels. All this had left him without any time to investigate the location.

Kusanagi saw him as he approached the truck and started up the truck, probably having closed up shop some time ago. "You ready to check that place out?"

Yusaku nodded and was about to go around to enter the passenger's seat, but Kusanagi seemed to have other ideas. "I left something for you in the back, you should probably have it if you're going to go in and investigate."

Yusaku followed his instructions and quickly climbed into the back, with Ai trailing behind him, like a shadow. "Don't think you're going in alone, Yusaku. I'm not letting anyone rough up my partner." Ai crashed into a chair with about as much elegance as his mechanical body allowed. As soon as he did, the truck rumbled and started moving along the road.

Yusaku stayed silent for a moment, thinking over the idea. "Do what you want. Just don't get caught doing anything wrong." Yusaku answered while inspecting the bike helmet which Kusanagi left for him.

"Don't worry. I won't get caught." The fact that Ai didn't say that he wasn't going to do anything wrong was noticed by Yusaku but he didn't reply to it. "And why did he leave that helmet for you? You aren't driving a bike. You probably don't even know how to drive."

Yusaku didn't react to the mocking that was aimed at him, but he did reply to the question. "It's probably to make sure no one sees my face."

Ai snickered at the answer. "This coming from the guy who only wears a _hat_ as his VRAINS disguise?"

"Be nice."

"Hai hai.." Ai didn't seem to have cared much as he still carried that smile on his face.

Before Yusaku could reprimand him further, the truck halted abruptly making him lurch forward in his chair. Before he could even voice out his question, Ai had the answer ready.

"We're here." He said while getting up and stretching his limbs for show, when in reality he didn't really need to do it. "Come on, I'm going investigating things like this for the first time in this body. I hope somebody's in there who I can duel, I don't want to get rusty."

"What sort of AI gets rusty?" Yusaku coldly said, ignoring the way Ai clutched his chest in false pain, as he stepped out the truck and came face to face with rows upon rows of warehouses. The helmet fit his head easily, covering his distinguishable hair and not so distinguishable face.

He went to the front where Kusanagi had some binoculars ready, and was already peering at the chain of warehouses. "I can't see anyone outside from here, but they might be inside or in the back."

Yusaku nodded while storing that information in his mind. "We'll go in. Call us if someone approaches the place." Kusanagi nodded at his instruction and started his watch over the area.

Ai led the way to the warehouse in question, most likely knowing where to go due to his internal GPS, and stopped in front of a warehouse which didn't look much different from the rest. "This is the place. Wanna head in?" He turned back and whispered to Yusaku. At his nod, Ai grabbed the edge of the electronic lock, causing it to fritz and slowly making the door slide open on its own.

As soon as the door opened, Yusaku and Ai came face to face with approximately 10 people, all of whom looked shocked at their arrival. They all were wearing duel disks, and didn't look very welcoming.

While Yusaku swore, Ai triumphantly declared. "Yes! Some mobs to help me get XP!"

* * *

**Author's Note: And cut! Next chapter will be Yusaku and Ai's _encounter_ with the mysterious group of people. **

**Poll is up on my profile, so be sure to vote for who you want for to win in a duel between Revolver and Ai. Keep in mind that a tie is an option.**

**Did you like Black Luster Soldier's entrance? Be sure to tell me!**

**My answer to the question of the chapter is: Firewall Dragon! Seriously, how much cooler can it get? Tempest Attack and Emergency Escape! Decode Talker's a close second(Power Integration and our favorite, DECODE ENDDDDD!)**

**Here's a hint for the next chapter to keep you all excited: Next chapter is gonna be the first appearance of Firewall Dragon in my fic! Be sure to stay tuned for that!**

**Next chapter is gonna be on hold for about a month, to give me time to straighten out the plot and plan ahead. Hope you all understand! **

**As always, be sure to PM me for any suggestions or drop reviews. I appreciate everything from tips to criticisms to pointing out faults and mistakes in the story.**

**Regards,**

**OmegaLordtheFirst**

* * *

**Own cards used in this chapter:**

**Ultimate Crashbug Rank 3 Fiend/Xyz/Effect ATK/DEF 2000/1000**  
3 Level 3 Fiend Monsters  
If this card was Xyz Summoned using Crashbug X, Crashbug Y and Crashbug Z, its attack points are doubled.  
You can detach 1 overlay unit from this card(Quick Effect):  
(1) destroy 1 monster on the field.  
(2) target 1 monster on the field, that monster's attack becomes 0 until the end of this turn.  
(3) destroy all cards in the Spell/Trap zones.  
You can only use each effect of Ultimate Crashbug once per turn. If you activated the (1) or (2) effect of this card, you cannot declare a battle with this card during that turn.

**And for the sake of people who want to know, the two set cards that were destroyed on Yusaku's field in this duel were Negate Attack and Mirror Force.**


End file.
